Sudan: A History in Three-Part Disharmony (Part I)

by Michelle

Published October 06, 2008 @ 02:01AM PT

In Episode 1 of 3 on the history of Sudan and the genocide in Darfur, we review the historical roots of the crisis, starting at the country's independence from Great Britain. (Though it actually goes even deeper than that.)  The post-colonial history of Sudan is characterized by constant instability and near- constant conflict. The patterns of violence developed during the First and Second Civil Wars are now seen in Darfur.

For those of you out there with history-induced narcolepsy--stop yawning. In order to fully understand the current situation in Darfur, it must be considered as part and parcel of this larger context. (Besides, it won't take you nearly as long to read it as it took me to write it.)

Fault Lines (not so clear-cut)

Since independence from Great Britain in 1956, Sudan has been plagued by multiple, overlapping points of conflict:

• The Islamist policies and brutal tactics of the central government in Khartoum antagonize the non-Muslim populations in the southern region of the country. This conflict also has racial overtones, between the Arab government in the north and the black "African" population in the south, which also includes Muslims.
• Instability has constantly plagued Khartoum, resulting in successive coups. (Keep in mind: Constant power struggles produce paranoid dictators.)
• Divisions between groups in the South exacerbate the conflict with the government, and complicate peace agreements and implementation.
• Various conflicts are further complicated by a criss-cross of foreign government involvement in internal affairs, involving Sudan and several neighboring countries. (Essentially, "You support rebels trying to overthrow my government, I'll support rebels trying to overthrow yours.)

The conflict is typically characterized as between the predominately Arab/Muslim North and the non-Arab/Muslim "African" South, though it must be kept in mind that this is not an entirely clear distinction. While 90% of Sudan's Muslims live in the northern two-thirds of the country (or, "the North), at least 5 million non-Muslims live in the North, and approximately one-fifth of the Muslim population is non-Arab (referred as "African," or black).

Northerners gained political advantages before independence, filling 794 of 800 senior government posts as the British departed. The presences of Northern civil servants in the South, which was typically less than cordial, bred resentment. Southern protests of the government's attempt to establish an Islamic republic and eradicate Christianity and African religions were met with violent reprisals. Resistant populations were expelled from the country en masse.

The First Civil War (and a tenuous peace)

The first Sudanese civil war began in 1963, when exiled army mutineers and dissidents, who regrouped in Uganda, attacked government forces in pursuit of Southern independence. The war lasted 10 years and claimed half a million lives. A military coup in 1969 brought the moderate Gaafar Nimeiri to power in Khartoum, and a peace agreement signed in 1972 included a high degree of Southern autonomy. A new constitution in 1973 established Sudan, in its entirety, as a secular state with freedom of religion.

But the settlement only lasted for 11 years. While the downfall of any peace agreement is typically complicated, three dominant factors led to collapse of the 1972 settlement in Sudan. First, factions on both sides harbored grievances over the terms of the settlement, and the South continued to protest continued Northern control of economic planning in the region.

Second, the discovery of oil in South in 1978 sparked a new and particularly contentious flash point of conflict, which remains one of them most (if not the most) substantial impediments to peace in the South and Darfur.  To gain control of oil revenues, refineries were built in the North, rather than near the oil deposits in the South, and North attempted to redraw its borders to incorporate oil deposits.

Finally, constant threats to his regime from hardliners in the North led Nimeiri to abandon his moderate, secular policies. Civil war resumed in 1983 after Nimeiri declared an "Islamic revolution"-in a show of commitment to the imposition of Islamic law, he dumped $11 million work of alcohol into the Nile-and dissolved the Southern regional government. Southern troops deserted the Sudanese army and regrouped in Ethiopia to form the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), led by Colonel John Garang de Mabior.

The Second Civil War  (and an exponential growth in brutality)

The Second Civil War proved to be significantly more complicated than the first, with several new factors exacerbating the conflict:

• Drought and Famine: The political consequences of the government's response (or lack thereof) to severe droughts in 1983 and 1984 led to Nimeiri's demise, and his replacement in 1986 was even more commitment to the establishment of an Islamic state. Sudan suffered its most severe famine in history in 1988, and both sides of the civil war used food as a weapon. The infliction of starvation, often against civilian populations, was a military strategy.

• Foreign Involvement: The Second Civil War involved a range of foreign meddling. Mengistu's regime in Ethiopia supported the SPLM in retaliation for Khartoum's support of Eritrean secessionists and other Ethiopian rebels. As a result of Kampala's support for the SPLM, Khartoum provided support to Ugandan rebel Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Before his overthrow, the United States provided $1.5 billion in assistance to Nimeiri , due to his stance against Mengistu and Gaddafi in Libya, both regimes which the US regarded as pro-Soviet.

• Southern Misalignment: SPLM leader John Garang, who advocated for a united secular Sudan, found himself at odds with other factions who ardently supported Southern independence. The distinction often occurred along ethnic lines, between Garang and his mostly-Dinka SPLM and the Nuer ethnic group. The North exploited these divisions, and armed groups opposed to the SPLM.

The war in the South was incredibly brutal, and the North in particular established a pattern of violence that is all-too-familiar in the current conflict in Darfur. The North armed Arab militias, known as murahalin, who raided Dinka and Nuer villages in the South, burning villages, poisoning wells, stealing livestock, killing or abducting people for use in slavery in the North. Southern civilians suffered the reprisals for SPLM attacks on Northern military and militia installations. The SPLM also targeted civilians thought to support their opponent, though not nearly to the same extent.

By 1989, the tide of the war had turned toward South, and forced President Sadiq al-Mahdi into negotiations. However, his capitulations on Islamic law led to a coup in June, once again placing Khartoum firmly in the hands of Islamic militants, under the leadership of General Omar al-Bashir. Al-Bashir promptly suspended constitution, dissolved parliament, arrested opposition politicians, purged the army, banned political parties and trade unions, and shut down newspapers.