Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service) - Peace signed yesterday in Kenya, marks the end of more than 20 years of war in southern Sudan, but this conflict must not be confused with the war still going on in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, on the border with Chad.
The war in southern Sudan.
The conflict in southern Sudan started in 1983 when the government extended Islamic Sharia law to the southern regions where people are mainly animists and Christians. The people rebelled and the ensuing war left more than 2 million dead, millions of refugees and displaced persons as well as widespread devastation. The conflict in southern Sudan was highly complex. Some said it was a religious war, a question of Muslims from the north oppressing Christians in the south. However the religious factor was only one of the elements and it hid others. Religion was used as a mask to cover more concrete interests. The war was, in part, economic. The south was robbed of its riches, not only oil but also precious timber, (mahogany teak, etc..). Entire forests disappeared in zones controlled by the government army. When troops took a town only the walls were left: they took away every portable thing, even doors and windows. There were also cultural and ethnic factors: for example the custom of slavery stemming from racial factors practised by peoples of the north against those of the south. But not everything could be put down to north-south friction. For example the soldiers of the government army were men from the south. Mainly because for many joining the army was the only available job, and in Sudan a soldier is paid more than a teacher at university.
The government troops were fighting the rebel army Southern Peoples Liberation Army SPLA led by John Garang who signed the peace agreement yesterday with the Khartoum government. Not by chance major point in the agreement establishes shared oil profits fifty-fifty between Khartoum and the autonomous southern administration. However the conflict in Darfur is a different matter.
Darfur
Darfur has always been a region of extreme poverty which has no resources or infrastructures. The Fur (hence “Darfur” in Arabic “house of Fur”) are mainly farmers. Over the years other peoples, mainly Arab herdsmen from various parts of Sudan settled in the region. This led to regular clashes between local Fur farmers and “immigrant” herdsmen over pastures, water, the few patches of fertile land. The disputes were settled by traditional tribal mediation.
The Fur have always accused the central government of neglecting their region, denying it the means for development. The region has no roads, no hospitals. This led to the formation of two guerrilla movements which oppose the government in Khartoum claiming more attention for the region.
The government’s reaction to the Darfur rebellion was ferocious. It manipulated the latent farmer - herdsmen conflict transforming it into open war. The Arab herdsmen were organised to form the murderous Janjaweed horsemen which, with the support of regular Sudanese airforce bomber helicopters and planes, launches systematic attacks on villages thought to support the rebellion. The war in Darfur has no religious motivation because the parties are all Muslims, but the ethnic composition of the region is a factor. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 10/1/2005 righe 49 parole 609)
