Southern Sudan Secedes, Northern Sudan Cracks (2)

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The question that naturally comes to mind as the referendum and other issues to do with the secession of the southern Sudan are coming to pass and the bad treatment the southerners suffered in the hand of the northerners for more than half a century is the fact that the south and north belonged to different religious affiliations. The scenario may be used then as the theoretical fate of the non-Muslims living in a state of a “hard-line Islamism” to use the cliché of Harry Verhoeven in his guardian.co.uk article Northern Sudan at a deadly crossroads in which he insinuated the above where he said “The Sudanese people have rejected hardline Islamism and returning to centralisation and sharia is likely to hasten the demise of al-Ingaz through a violent disintegration of northern Sudan, as neither the people in the peripheries (Darfur, South Kordofan, Blue Nile) nor those in Khartoum would accept a monocultural, monoreligious "Arab" state”.

 

This kind of approach is seen all over the western media that discuss the issue of northern Sudan  using a language typical of the 1980s western newspapers discussing the issue of Iran revolution and Khomein. As we have the duty to condemn the Inqaz government for treating the southerners as second class citizens in their own country, we have to, very quickly explain and make it clear that the problem of Sudan is not that of mono-religious but mono-cultural. It is true that that Al-Bashir several days back made some dangerous utterances threatening to turn Sudan after the secession, into a hard-line mono-cultural and mono-religious state, but this is to be interpreted simply as a political statement made as a self defense rather than an attack to anyone. This statement may also be interpreted as an effort to score a political goal and rally a support from the Arabian Gulf hardliners after the secession. Not only this, many of the Sudanese government actions whether in its name or as represented by the ruling party in the recent developments are nothing but pre-planned strategies to rally support after the secession which the government was almost certain about. Among these actions are the African-Arab Solidarity International Conference Organized by the International University of Africa and funded by the ruling party between 26^th -28^th November, 2010, the Sudan government project of supporting Qatar 2020 and the on-going  Africa Cup of Nations in the Sudan.  The mistake one makes while analyzing the situation is to base the analysis on the assumption that the authorities in Sudan care about the secession of the southern Sudan. Not even the common masses in the northern Sudan care about the secession. The general notion in the north is that southern Sudan is a cancer on the body of Sudan and has to be amputated. The thing that the authorities seem to care about is to be held responsible for causing the secession of the south which results into their many 11^th hour unrealistic compromises. As such, they could not be held responsible for they did their possible best, but history will still hold grudges against them.

 

Using Islam whether hard-line or soft-line or whatever one decides to call it in the political arena is like using any other political tool to achieve a particular political goal and Sudan like any other political entity is doing it to the fullest raising different cards as the situation warrants.

 

Talking about mono-cultural Sudan is to hit the wound where it hurts the most. Very central to the long-enduring problem of Sudan is the attempt and eagerness by the authorities of Sudan not even to overlook the growing mono-cultural Sudan but also to endorse it and make some official machineries work to promote it.  Born of racism and racial purificationism, this gave rise to the Janjaweed militia in Darfur and their terrorist actions against non Arab Darfurians after the half century old southern war.

More dangerous than these groupings are those tribes who feel seriously cheated and treated as second class and are not talking yet. Estimates place Hausa people in Sudan variously at 8 and 10 million. After the secession of the South, the Hausa people will claim over whelming majority of the northern Sudan. These people have also suffered not less subjugation than the Darfurians, a fact many people are not aware about. Although their condition doesn’t show any possibility of them revolting violently, they have the numbers they need to change the political outlook of the country to entirely something else.