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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Sudan
Index
The three southern provinces of Al Istiwai, Bahr al Ghazal,
and Aali an Nil were centers of opposition to Khartoum's
authority since before independence. The first rebellion began in
1955 as a mutiny of southern troops who believed that the
departure of the British would be followed by northern efforts to
force arabization and Islamization on their region. The
antigovernment movement gathered momentum after Sudan's
independence in 1956 with the formation of opposition elements.
The harsh treatment of southern civilians by northern armed
forces and police caused a number of better educated southerners
who served in government posts or were teachers to go into exile.
Ultimately, in February 1962, many of these persons formed the
Sudan Africa Closed Districts National Union. In April 1963, the
group changed its name to the Sudan African National Union (SANU)
and advocated outright independence for southern Sudan.
Meanwhile, numerous less-educated southern males, many of whom
had been junior civil servants or former members of the Equatoria
Corps, sought refuge in the bush and formed guerrilla bands, the
Anya Nya, which began activities in 1963
(see
Civil Warfare in the South;
Paramilitary Groups
, ch. 5). As the Anya Nya developed
into an effective military force, it gradually succeeded in
expelling central government officials from an increasing number
of southern districts. In 1971, by which time Anya Nya controlled
most rural areas, its military leaders formed a political
organization, the Southern Sudan Liberation Movement (SSLM).
The Nimeiri regime recognized that the escalating civil
strife in the south was a debilitating drain on the country's
resources and a serious impediment to Sudan's economic
development. In 1971 Nimeiri agreed to negotiate a compromise
with the SSLM. Several sessions of mediated discussions
culminated in peace negotiations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in
February and March 1972. Under the provisions of the Addis Ababa
accords, the central government and the SSLM agreed to a ceasefire , and Khartoum recognized the regional autonomy of the three
southern provinces. After signing the accord, Nimeiri issued a
decree for the establishment of a Southern Regional Assembly. The
assembly's members were elected in multiparty elections, the
first of which was held in 1973, with a second election five
years later. Throughout the 1970s, the Nimeiri government
observed the Addis Ababa accords fairly faithfully, and the
south's relative political freedom contrasted sharply with the
authoritarian rule in the rest of the country.
The Addis Ababa accords eventually were undermined by the
same factors that had fueled southern rebellion in the 1960s:
fears that the north was determined to force arabization and
Islamization upon the south. These fears were revived, beginning
in the late 1970s, by the increasing influence of the Muslim
Brotherhood over central government policies. In 1981 Nimeiri
virtually abrogated the Addis Ababa accords by dissolving the
Southern Regional Assembly. In addition to these major political
developments, the general economic stagnation of the south, which
by the early 1980s was plagued with high inflation, lack of
employment opportunities, and severe shortages of basic goods,
tended to reinforce southern suspicions of Khartoum.
After Nimeiri appointed Muslim Brotherhood leader Turabi as
attorney general in November 1981, southern confidence in the
central government's motives eroded rapidly. A mutiny among about
1,000 southern troops in February 1983 stimulated attacks on
government property and forces throughout the region. By August a
former colonel in the Sudanese army, John Garang, had been
instrumental in forming the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement
(SPLM). When Nimeiri imposed the sharia on the whole country one
month later, further inflaming attitudes among non-Muslims in the
south, the SPLM rebellion, coordinated by its newly formed
military arm, the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) turned
into a full-scale civil war
(see The Sudanese People's Liberation Army
, ch. 5). The intensification of fighting throughout 1984,
and the SPLA's general success in expelling government forces
from most rural districts and some towns were important factors
contributing to Nimeiri's overthrow in 1985.
Unlike its predecessor, the SSLM, the SPLM sought, not
secession from Sudan, but a solution based on a secular,
democratic, and federal political system. Because one of the
first acts of the transitional military government that overthrew
Nimeiri was to suspend enforcement of the September Laws, Garang
and other SPLM leaders initially were optimistic about resolving
their grievances with Khartoum. The SPLM thus agreed to
participate in negotiations with central government
representatives and leaders of northern political parties. In
1986 SPLM leaders and several northern politicians met at
Ethiopia's Koka Dam, where they signed an important declaration
stating their common commitment to democracy. Nevertheless, the
primary issue separating the SPLM from the northern parties--the
role of the sharia--remained unresolved. Sadiq al Mahdi, whom
Nimeiri had imprisoned for his criticism of the manner in which
the 1983 laws had been implemented, as prime minister became
reluctant to abrogate the sharia as the SPLM demanded.
Muhammad Uthman al Mirghani, head of the Democratic Unionist
Party (DUP) and spiritual leader of the Khatmiyyah religious
order, was one of the few northern politicians who recognized
that ending the civil war and compromising on the issue of the
sharia were inseparable. In November and December 1988, he met
with Garang in Ethiopia and reached a tentative agreement that
involved major government concessions with respect to the sharia.
This agreement received the backing of many northern groups that
wanted an end to the debilitating civil war. The NIF, however,
strongly opposed the agreement and exerted considerable pressures
on the Sadiq al Mahdi government to reject it.
Sadiq al Mahdi's temporizing on the Mirghani-Garang agreement
sparked demonstrations in Khartoum by various labor unions and
professional associations. Military officers who opposed
continuation of the fighting in the south intervened in February
1989 to demand that the government seriously negotiate an end to
the civil war. The military's memorandum to the cabinet provoked
a political crisis that led Sadiq al Mahdi to form a new
coalition government without NIF participation. This National
Salvation government was dedicated to compromise with the SPLM on
the basis of the Mirghani-Garang agreement. Accordingly, it set
up a special committee of legal experts to draft legislation for
the repeal of the September Laws.
The June 1989 coup made the Mirghani-Garang agreement a moot
issue. Although the RCC-NS declared a unilateral cease-fire and
announced its determination to settle the conflict in the south
peacefully, its Islamic policies tended to alienate further,
rather than to conciliate, the SPLM. Garang announced that the
SPLA would continue the struggle but insisted that the SPLM was
prepared to discuss a resolution of the civil war provided the
government agreed not to enforce the sharia. Garang sent SPLM
representatives to Ethiopia in August 1989 and to Kenya in
December to discuss the war with RCC-NS representatives, but
these meetings produced no results. The RCC-NS adopted the
position that there could be no preconditions for peace talks.
Consequently, the war continued, with the SPLA forces generally
prevailing in military clashes with army contingents, especially
in Al Istiwai, where support for the SPLM initially had been
weak. In mid-1991 the government still held several important
southern towns, including the largest cities of Juba and Yei in
Al Istiwai, but they were besieged by the SPLA and could be
resupplied only by air.
Data as of June 1991
Southern Sudan
The three southern provinces of Al Istiwai, Bahr al Ghazal,
and Aali an Nil were centers of opposition to Khartoum's
authority since before independence. The first rebellion began in
1955 as a mutiny of southern troops who believed that the
departure of the British would be followed by northern efforts to
force arabization and Islamization on their region. The
antigovernment movement gathered momentum after Sudan's
independence in 1956 with the formation of opposition elements.
The harsh treatment of southern civilians by northern armed
forces and police caused a number of better educated southerners
who served in government posts or were teachers to go into exile.
Ultimately, in February 1962, many of these persons formed the
Sudan Africa Closed Districts National Union. In April 1963, the
group changed its name to the Sudan African National Union (SANU)
and advocated outright independence for southern Sudan.
Meanwhile, numerous less-educated southern males, many of whom
had been junior civil servants or former members of the Equatoria
Corps, sought refuge in the bush and formed guerrilla bands, the
Anya Nya, which began activities in 1963
(see
Civil Warfare in the South;
Paramilitary Groups
, ch. 5). As the Anya Nya developed
into an effective military force, it gradually succeeded in
expelling central government officials from an increasing number
of southern districts. In 1971, by which time Anya Nya controlled
most rural areas, its military leaders formed a political
organization, the Southern Sudan Liberation Movement (SSLM).
The Nimeiri regime recognized that the escalating civil
strife in the south was a debilitating drain on the country's
resources and a serious impediment to Sudan's economic
development. In 1971 Nimeiri agreed to negotiate a compromise
with the SSLM. Several sessions of mediated discussions
culminated in peace negotiations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in
February and March 1972. Under the provisions of the Addis Ababa
accords, the central government and the SSLM agreed to a ceasefire , and Khartoum recognized the regional autonomy of the three
southern provinces. After signing the accord, Nimeiri issued a
decree for the establishment of a Southern Regional Assembly. The
assembly's members were elected in multiparty elections, the
first of which was held in 1973, with a second election five
years later. Throughout the 1970s, the Nimeiri government
observed the Addis Ababa accords fairly faithfully, and the
south's relative political freedom contrasted sharply with the
authoritarian rule in the rest of the country.
The Addis Ababa accords eventually were undermined by the
same factors that had fueled southern rebellion in the 1960s:
fears that the north was determined to force arabization and
Islamization upon the south. These fears were revived, beginning
in the late 1970s, by the increasing influence of the Muslim
Brotherhood over central government policies. In 1981 Nimeiri
virtually abrogated the Addis Ababa accords by dissolving the
Southern Regional Assembly. In addition to these major political
developments, the general economic stagnation of the south, which
by the early 1980s was plagued with high inflation, lack of
employment opportunities, and severe shortages of basic goods,
tended to reinforce southern suspicions of Khartoum.
After Nimeiri appointed Muslim Brotherhood leader Turabi as
attorney general in November 1981, southern confidence in the
central government's motives eroded rapidly. A mutiny among about
1,000 southern troops in February 1983 stimulated attacks on
government property and forces throughout the region. By August a
former colonel in the Sudanese army, John Garang, had been
instrumental in forming the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement
(SPLM). When Nimeiri imposed the sharia on the whole country one
month later, further inflaming attitudes among non-Muslims in the
south, the SPLM rebellion, coordinated by its newly formed
military arm, the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) turned
into a full-scale civil war
(see The Sudanese People's Liberation Army
, ch. 5). The intensification of fighting throughout 1984,
and the SPLA's general success in expelling government forces
from most rural districts and some towns were important factors
contributing to Nimeiri's overthrow in 1985.
Unlike its predecessor, the SSLM, the SPLM sought, not
secession from Sudan, but a solution based on a secular,
democratic, and federal political system. Because one of the
first acts of the transitional military government that overthrew
Nimeiri was to suspend enforcement of the September Laws, Garang
and other SPLM leaders initially were optimistic about resolving
their grievances with Khartoum. The SPLM thus agreed to
participate in negotiations with central government
representatives and leaders of northern political parties. In
1986 SPLM leaders and several northern politicians met at
Ethiopia's Koka Dam, where they signed an important declaration
stating their common commitment to democracy. Nevertheless, the
primary issue separating the SPLM from the northern parties--the
role of the sharia--remained unresolved. Sadiq al Mahdi, whom
Nimeiri had imprisoned for his criticism of the manner in which
the 1983 laws had been implemented, as prime minister became
reluctant to abrogate the sharia as the SPLM demanded.
Muhammad Uthman al Mirghani, head of the Democratic Unionist
Party (DUP) and spiritual leader of the Khatmiyyah religious
order, was one of the few northern politicians who recognized
that ending the civil war and compromising on the issue of the
sharia were inseparable. In November and December 1988, he met
with Garang in Ethiopia and reached a tentative agreement that
involved major government concessions with respect to the sharia.
This agreement received the backing of many northern groups that
wanted an end to the debilitating civil war. The NIF, however,
strongly opposed the agreement and exerted considerable pressures
on the Sadiq al Mahdi government to reject it.
Sadiq al Mahdi's temporizing on the Mirghani-Garang agreement
sparked demonstrations in Khartoum by various labor unions and
professional associations. Military officers who opposed
continuation of the fighting in the south intervened in February
1989 to demand that the government seriously negotiate an end to
the civil war. The military's memorandum to the cabinet provoked
a political crisis that led Sadiq al Mahdi to form a new
coalition government without NIF participation. This National
Salvation government was dedicated to compromise with the SPLM on
the basis of the Mirghani-Garang agreement. Accordingly, it set
up a special committee of legal experts to draft legislation for
the repeal of the September Laws.
The June 1989 coup made the Mirghani-Garang agreement a moot
issue. Although the RCC-NS declared a unilateral cease-fire and
announced its determination to settle the conflict in the south
peacefully, its Islamic policies tended to alienate further,
rather than to conciliate, the SPLM. Garang announced that the
SPLA would continue the struggle but insisted that the SPLM was
prepared to discuss a resolution of the civil war provided the
government agreed not to enforce the sharia. Garang sent SPLM
representatives to Ethiopia in August 1989 and to Kenya in
December to discuss the war with RCC-NS representatives, but
these meetings produced no results. The RCC-NS adopted the
position that there could be no preconditions for peace talks.
Consequently, the war continued, with the SPLA forces generally
prevailing in military clashes with army contingents, especially
in Al Istiwai, where support for the SPLM initially had been
weak. In mid-1991 the government still held several important
southern towns, including the largest cities of Juba and Yei in
Al Istiwai, but they were besieged by the SPLA and could be
resupplied only by air.
Data as of June 1991
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