The Sudan is part Arab and part Sub-Sahara Africa. It is a huge country with a population of close to 30 million people. In the colonial days, the Sudan was incorporated into Egypt like the sub-continent of India included Pakistan and Bangladesh. ﾠDuring that era, it was known as the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Today, the Sudan is back in the news.
It is one of those countries, which in some ways, was a victim of colonialism. A country thrown together on geographical lines rather than ethnicity.
As a college student in the 60s, one came into contact with Sudan from several perspectives. ﾠI had a professor Dr. D.H. Thornton who is now deceased, was a specialist on the Sudanese Gerzera project where cotton was grown. ﾠThis was during my year at Reading University, England.
At the University of Wisconsin, I got to know a Sudanese who was from Khartoum, the capital. Khartoum is in the northern part of the country near Egypt and very Arab. My friend was a Muslim.
Then on a World Bank course in Washington, D.C., I became friendly with another Sudanese, he was from Juba in the South and very Sub-Saharan. ﾠHe was Christian. One could always differentiate the Christians from the Muslims. Christians had Biblical first names; my friendﾴs name was David.
This huge country had a Christian south and a Muslim north with a great swamp dividing the two regions. Juba was the main city of the Christian south and Khartoum was the capital of the country and in the north.
The Sub-Saharan south really did not identify with Khartoum. There was more affinity to their southern neighbouring states of Zaire, Uganda, Kenya and its neighbour to the west, Chad. The people of the south were Sub-Saharan African looking very much like us here in The Bahamas. ﾠThe Muslim north were more North African looking, very much like the Ethiopians or Somalians.
Then I came across the Egyptians who really regarded the Sudanese in a similar manner as some Bahamians regard Haitians. ﾠMany Sudanese migrated to Egypt in search of jobs and many are employed as domestics in the homes of Egyptians.
When the slave trade dominated western commerce, Egyptians invaded the swamps and jungles searching for slaves. ﾠThis made the Sub-Saharan Africans bitter and suspicious of northerners and resisted efforts to convert them to the Islamic faith and the adoption of Arabic as their language.
This is the backdrop to the terrible situation now facing the Sudan. ﾠThere is ethnic warfare and those who see the human carnage call it genocide.
In western Sudan, near Chad, a government-backed militia known as Janjaweed, is engaging in campaigns to displace and wipe out communities of Sub-Sahara Africa tribal farmers. This crisis in Darfur is being described by human rights organizations and the United Nations as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today.
The brutal violence and killings have resulted in over 30,000 deaths and the displacement of two million Darfurians. ﾠChad has become a refugee location for some 200,000 humans who are running away from their villages where women and girls are systematically raped, men and children are brutally slaughtered and where Janjaweed deliberately destroy food and water in a land where both food and water are scarce.
The situation in the Darfur region of Sudan is reminiscent to the Rwandan genocide of the ethnic Tutsi minority when 800,000 people were slaughtered in 100 days.
The international community has been sensitised to the situation by a number of organizations, principally the World Council of Jews. ﾠThere is a relationship between Israel and the Sudan. ﾠSeveral years ago, a group of Sudanese were found to be practicing the original Jewish religion as practiced by Moses. ﾠThese people were regarded as Jews or Falashas, were allowed to migrate to Israel. ﾠJewish organizations have taken up the Darfurian mantle.
The United States has sent a draft resolution to UNﾴs Security Council threatening sanctions against the Sudan and calling on the Sudanese government to disarm Janjaweed. On the other hand, Khartoum views this U.S. initiative as a pre-text for an invasion of another Arab state. Remember during the Clinton Administration, Khartoum was bombed as U.S. claimed that Sudanese based terrorists had been involved in the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.
Despite the posturing in the U.N. the world cannot sit idly by and watch thousands of humans slaughtered and women and young girls raped. This is inhumane.
As Bahamians we have an obligation to urge our leaders and those who represent us at the U.N. to speak out against these atrocities. As a country we are not immune to this possibility as illegal immigrants and political refugees seek The Bahamas as a safe haven. ﾠMany reside in enclaves away from the life of mainstream Bahamas. It is this separation which fosters distrust. We should encourage assimilation, thereby fending off the possibility of ethnic conflicts in our midst. There is a lesson for us in the Darfur Crisis.
Editorial, Godfrey Eneas, The Bahama Journal
