New Sudan or South Sudan? The Multiple Meanings of Self-Determination in Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement

Abstract

Examining the experiences of the South since Sudan's independence, this article analyses why the choice of ‘unity’ became an unrealistic option for South Sudanese. Stressing that self-determination for the South was the only way to resolve Sudan's long-standing national crisis, this article points out, at the same time, that it left unresolved the issue of self-determination for the peoples of the northern Sudan who joined the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army and brought new problems, particularly to the newly created international border area between Sudan and South Sudan.

Notes

 1. Machakos Protocol: Agreed Principles clauses 1.1, 1.3, 1.10; The Transition Process, clause 2.5.

 2. Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Disturbances in the Southern Sudan during August, 1955 (Khartoum: McCorquedale 1956). Øystein H. Rolandsen, ‘A False Start: Between War and Peace in the Southern Sudan, 1956–62’, Journal of African History 52/1 (2011) pp.108–11.

 3. For a more detailed discussion of the causes of Sudan's civil wars and the CPA negotiations, see Douglas H. Johnson, The Root Causes of Sudan's Civil Wars: Peace or Truce, revised ed. (Woodbridge & Rochester: James Currey 2011).

 4. See Sally Healy, ‘The Changing Idiom of Self-Determination in the Horn of Africa’, J. Mayall, ‘Self-Determination and the OAU’, and H. Wiberg, ‘Self-Determination as an International Issue’, all in I.M. Lewis (ed.) Nationalism & Self Determination in the Horn of Africa (London: Ithaca Press 1983).

 5. Douglas H. Johnson, British Documents on the End of Empire, Series B, Volume 5 Sudan, Part 1, 1942–1950, (London: The Stationery Office 1998) documents 1–3, 51–2, 54, 58, pp.1–11, 131–35, 137, 141–42.

 6. Douglas H. Johnson, British Documents on the End of Empire, Series B, Volume 5 Sudan, Part 2, 1951–1956, (London: The Stationery Office 1998) document 369, pp.384–85. Douglas H. Johnson, ‘The 1954 Juba Conference, also known as the Both Diu Conference’, Southern Sudan Post (Jan. 2007) pp.4–11.

 7. Johnson, (note 6) 432, 435–37, pp.493–94, 497–501.

 8. E.K. Mayom, ‘The Political and Administrative Principles for the Southern Sudan’, 12 Oct. 1957, reprinted in Yosa Wawa, Southern Sudanese Pursuits of Self-Determination: Documents in Political History (Kisubi: Marianum Press 2005) pp.150–55.

 9. M.O. Beshir, The Southern Sudan: Background to Conflict, (London: C. Hurst 1968) chapter 11.

10. ‘Letter from SANU to African Liberation Committee’, 5 Dec. 1963, reprinted in Yosa Wawa, Southern Sudanese Pursuits of Self-Determination: Documents in Political History (Kisubi: Marianum Press 2005) pp.171–78.

11. ‘Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples’, UN Res 1514(XV) of Dec. 1960.

12. Joseph Oduho and William Deng, The Problem of the Southern Sudan (London: OUP 1963) p.60.

13. Southern Sudan Liberation Movement [SSLM], ‘The South Sudan Liberation Movement Recommendations for a New Constitution for the Republic of the Sudan’, 15 Feb. 1972.

14. Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) Manifesto, 31 Jul. 1983.

15. Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) ‘Opening Address to the Abuja Peace Talks’, 26 May 1992.

16. Douglas H. Johnson, ‘The Sudan People's Liberation Army and the Problem of Factionalism’, in Christopher Clapham (ed.) African Guerrillas (Oxford: James Currey/Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press) pp.62–5.

17. SPLM ‘Opening Address to the Abuja peace talks’.

18. SPLM/SPLA ‘Joint Abuja Delegation declaration’, 1 Jun. 1992.

19. For the expansion of mechanized farming schemes within the border region, see Map 8 (p.64) in Douglas H. Johnson, When Boundaries become Borders: the Impact of Boundary-Making in Southern Sudan's Frontier Zones (London and Nairobi: Rift Valley Institute 2010), also online at < http://www.riftvalley.net/resources/file/When%20Boundaries%20Become%20Borders%20Reduced%20Size%20Digital%20Version.pdf>. For the location of trans-border oil blocks, see Map B (p.5), Human Rights Watch, Sudan, Oil, and Human Rights (Brussels/London/New York/Washington DC: Human Rights Watch 2003).

20. Human Rights Watch (note 19).

21. For land and the Nuba, see African Rights, Facing Genocide: the Nuba of Sudan (London: African Rights 1995), pp.39–51, and Guma Kunda Komey, Land, Governance, Conflict and the Nuba of Sudan (Woodbridge and Rochester: James Currey 2010), especially chapters 2, 3 and 7. For land issues affecting Kassala and Gedaref states, see Catherine Miller (ed.), Land, Ethnicity and Political Legitimacy in Eastern Sudan (Cairo and Khartoum: CEDEJ & DSRC 2005). For the government erosion of communal resource management in Sudan, generally see Gaim Kibreab, State Intervention and the Environment in Sudan, 1889–1989 (Lewiston/Queenston/Lampeter: The Edwin Mellen Press 2002).

22. Notes taken by the author on an address by John Garang in London, 2 Mar. 2002.

23. Jon Sawyer, ‘Danforth Wants Assurances Cease-fire will be Honored’, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 13 Jan. 2002, online at < http://www.occasionalwitness.com/Articles/20020113c.htm>, accessed 12 Jul. 2010.

24. John C. Danforth, Report to the President of the United State on the Outlook for Peace in Sudan, 26 Apr. 2002.

25. African Rights (note 21) pp.338–39.

26. Hilde F. Johnson, Waging Peace in Sudan: the Inside Story of the Negotiations that Ended Africa's Longest Civil War (Brighton: Sussex Academic Press 2011) p.131.

27. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Government of the Republic of the Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Sudan People's Liberation Army. Chapter V, The Resolution of Conflict in Southern Kordofan/Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile States, clause 3.

28. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Government of the Republic of the Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Sudan People's Liberation Army. Chapter III, Wealth Sharing, clause 3, and Chapter V, clause 9.

29. Notes taken by the author on an address by John Garang, London, 18 Sep. 2004.

30. Justice and Equality Movement [JEM], The Black Book: Imbalance of Power and Wealth in Sudan, English translation, Mar. 2004.

31. Abel Alier, Southern Sudan: Too Many Agreements Dishonoured (Exeter: Ithaca Press 1990).

32. Kibreab (note 21) pp.272–80. Mark Duffield, ‘Famine, Conflict and the Internationalization of Public Welfare’ in M. Doornbos, L. Cliffe, A.G.M. Ahmed and J. Markakis (eds) Beyond Conflict in the Horn: The Prospects for Peace, Recovery & Development in Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea & Sudan (London: James Currey 1992) pp.50–51. Leben Nelson Moro, Oil, Conflict and Displacement in Sudan, D.Phil. Thesis, University of Oxford 2008.

33. Behind the Red Line: Political Repression in Sudan (New York/Washington/London/Brussels: Human Rights Watch, 1996) pp.252–68.

34. Thabo Mbeki, ‘Pres. Mbeki's Statement at the Launch of the Post-referendum Negotiations’, 10 Jul. 2010, online at http://blogs.ssrc.org/sudan/2010/07/10/pres-mbekis-statement-pr-negotiations, accessed 14 Jul. 2010.

35. Justin Willis, ‘Sudan's Election: Voting for Authoritarians’, Africa Review 3/1 (2011) pp.47–64.

36. See Douglas H. Johnson, ‘Why Abyei Matters: The Breaking Point of Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement?’, African Affairs 107/426 (2008) pp.1–19, and Johnson (note 19) pp.29–41.

37. Permanent Court of Arbitration, Final Award in the Matter of an Arbitration…on Delimiting the Abyei Area…between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army, The Hague, 22 Jul. 2009, pp.207–8.

38. Andrew Heavens, ‘Head of Sudan's Abyei Rejects US Compromise Call’, Reuters, 25 Oct. 2010, online at < http://af.reuters.com/article = AFHEA53557320101025>, accessed 25 Oct. 2010.

39. Douglas H. Johnson, ‘Abyei: Sudan's West Bank’, Washington, DC: Enough Project, 4 Apr. 2011, online at < http://www.enoughproject.org/publications/abyei-sudans-west-bank>.

40. International Crisis Group, Sudan's Southern Kordofan Problem: the Next Darfur? Africa Report No. 145 (21 Oct. 2008) p.3.

41. See, for instance, ‘Thousands displaced in Town taken over by Sudan Armed Forces Satellite Imagery Shows’, 18 Jun. 2011, online at < http://www.satsentinel.org/press-release/thousands-displaced-town-taken-over-sudan-armed-forces-satellite-imagery-shows>. See also Richard Rottenburg, Guma Kunda Komey and Enrico Ille, The Genesis of Recurring Wars in Sudan: Rethinking the Violent Conflicts in the Nuba Mountains/South Kordofan (Germany: University of Halle, Oct. 2011) pp.11–14.

42. Aly Verjee, Disputed Votes, Deficient Observation: the 2011 Election in South Kordofan, Sudan, Rift Valley Institute African Elections Project Research Paper (London/Nairobi: Rift Valley Institute, Aug. 2011). Rottenburg et al. (note 41) pp.14–18.

43. UNMIS Report on the Human Rights Situation during the Violence in Southern Kordofan, Sudan (Khatoum: UNMIS Human Rights Section Jun. 2011). Rottenburg et al. (note 41) pp.8–14.

44. Johnson (note 26) p.132.