Nuba Vision

Volume 2, Issue 3, April 2003

At the end of last February Suleiman Musa Rahhal, Director of Nuba Survival was invited to the United States to make presentation at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre For Scholars, Washington DC, on "The Sudanese War and The Nuba people" which was held on 28 February 2003. Among the Panellists were Howard Wolpes, Consulting Director, Africa Project, Ambassador Michael Runnberg, Head of Sudan Desk at State Department and John Pendergast, Co-Director, Africa Programme. These are extracts from his statement.

It is a great privilege to address this assembly on behalf of the Nuba people of Sudan, one of the most downtrodden and invisible people of the world today. Mr. Chairman, if you allow me, I would like to thank Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, particularly Howard Wolpes for organizing this important meeting on "The Sudanese War and The Nuba people". I would also like to express my gratitude to the Government of the United States, particularly to Senator John Danforth for his relentless efforts to end the long conflict of the Sudan and for achieving a ‘cease-fire agreement’ for the Nuba Mountains. Last but not least, I would like to thank Daniel Lupinsky for his advocacy and lobbying on behalf of Nuba Survival in the USA, who made it possible for me to be here with you.

Mr. Chairman

The Nuba people posses extra ordinarily rich and varied cultures and traditions. Their cultures have a tradition of tolerance and diversity, which shows that they are truly African people, who are proud of their rich tradition and cultural heritage. Professor Ronald Stevenson, famous linguistic, in 1984 classified more than fifty Nuba languages and dialect clusters into ten separate groups, which means that there are more linguistic diversity within the Nuba Mountains than the entire rest of Sudan. The Nuba practice a mixture of Islam, Christianity and tribal religions and beliefs. Music, dancing and wrestling are also central to the amazing cultural diversity and richness found among the Nuba tribes.

The Nuba live in a well-defined territory called Nuba Mountains , which covers an area of some 30,00 square miles. During the British rule in Sudan (1896-1956) the region was under "Close District Administration" which was a separate province and had its capital in Talodi. The Nuba are first and foremost agricultural people and there is a strong association among the Nuba between the land, agriculture and culture. The Nuba traditional cultural ceremonies follow the agricultural cycle. Our agricultural system makes the best use of the delicate environment in which the Nuba live and they are custodian to the land. Their lands are fertile and rich with natural resources including oil, which has been discovered recently.

For many centuries, the Nuba have shared the region with the nomadic Baggara Arab tribes, who usually migrate through the area twice a year with their cattle. Although in the past the Nuba have suffered from the Arab raiding and slavery, however, during most of the early part of last century the two communities managed to resolve their disputes peacefully and they were able to live together side by side in relative peace, mutual trust and understanding. In the past, disputes over land and water were resolved at annual conferences, which usually takes place on a neutral ground.

However, the recent conflict in the Nuba Mountains cannot be separated from the long-standing conflict in the wider Sudan. The Nuba throughout the history of Sudan have suffered from suppression, marginalisation and exploitation from all national governments that ruled Sudan since independence. Under the present Government an unprecedented scale of human rights violations mounted to ethnic cleansing was carried out by the Sudanese armed forces against the Nuba in absolute impunity.

This is one of the reason which has driven many Nuba to resort to armed struggle. Today they are central to the conflict, having pursued the arm struggle side by side with the SPLA for more than eighteen years, fighting in all fronts where SPLA has been active. They are central to this conflict in many ways, as they hold the key to the vital questions of land and resources, ethnic rights and religious tolerance. These are the core elements to the conflict in Sudan today, which need to be redressed for the benefit of the whole country.

It is often said that the underlying cause of the conflict in Sudan is religion but that is not true. Religion is one of the many factors that have fuelled and contributed to this conflict. Many complex factors are considered to be the cause of this internal civil war. This include: 1. Political and economic marginalisation. 2. Ethnic, religious and cultural discrimination. 3. Dispossession of lands, traditions and customs. 4. Poor educational, political and economic opportunities since independence. 5.Recent discovery of oil in the region. 6.The availability of modern weapons and the encouragement of the Arab tribes by the state to invade Nuba and others.

The human rights violation in the Nuba Mountains is not solely something of today but it goes back to the early 19th century, several decades before Sudan independence in 1956. It started with the Turko-Egyptian rule (1821-1881) in Sudan, when the Egyptian ruler, Mohammed Ali Pasha, decided to conquer Sudan, primarily to recruit black slaves with the aim of building a strong army to drive out the Ottomans from Egypt and build his own empire. For this reason the slave trade began operating in the Nuba Mountains as well as in the South for several decades by three main forces: the Turks, the Private Enterprise and the Arab Traders from Northern Sudan.

During the Mahdyia era Nuba who fought with the Mahdi were later to be marginalised and were treacherously and cruelly treated. Their villages were raided and tens of thousands of Nuba people were massacred, and a large number of them were taken as slaves to Omdurman. The Nuba people also suffered enormously from the policy of ‘Closed District Administration’, imposed on them by the British rulers. As they were denied access to education, administration and development, while the Arabs in the North were better off at that time.

The present regime in Khartoum has appalling records of human rights violations documented by several international human rights organizations and all documented grave human rights abuses committed against the Nuba by the Government armed forces. Dr. Gaspar Biro, UN Special Raporteur for Human Rights in Sudan in all his reports to the United Nations Assembly condemned the Government of Sudan for its appalling human rights records.

The Nuba have neither enjoyed the fruits of the independence of their country nor they have peace. Since Sudan’s independence, the Nuba have been oppressed, discriminated against and marginalized by all central governments that ruled Sudan up to the present Government in Khartoum. These national governments have embarked on similar policies, to impoverish the Nuba and push them to the margin of the Sudanese society, to become second-class citizens in their own country. Today Nuba have been denied the bill of rights, cultural rights and freedom of religion expression.

It is for this reason and for the past six years the Nuba have been raising constantly at the regional and the international conference their demand for self-determination. We know that self-determination has now been accepted and recognized as a basic rights for the people of Southern Sudan but this fundamental right still yet to be recognized for the Nuba people and others who are demanding it. The Nuba hold the vital key to any peaceful solution in the Sudan and without full acceptance of their political right there can be no peace in Sudan. They demand the right to self-determination, to be exercised immediately after the six-year interim period when the people of Southern Sudan had voted at the referendum. The past experience make Nuba fear that, under whatever government, Northern politicians in power will continue to maintain the same policy denying the Nuba their civil rights. Nuba demand the right of self-determination in full because they have a strong case, which is based on their long historical records of suffering from abuse, injustice, discrimination and marginalisation. These are the prime reasons that forced them and other marginalized people in northern Sudan to resort to the armed struggle.

These three contested areas have resorted to arm struggle for more than eighteen years fighting alongside the Sudan people’s Liberation Army (SPLA) against injustices, marginalisation, and the domination of Northern elite over the political power and the wealth since independence in 1956. It is highly important that the political issues of these contested areas should be settled within IGAD forum.

However, the claim made by both sides over who should control these areas is not of significant importance to the people of these areas. What important is what these people want? They want their voice to be heard and their political rights to be redressed and above all they want IGAD to invite their political parties and civil society organizations to the peace talks in Kenya to articulate their political future. As they need to be among the key players to decide their future by themselves. The Nuba are at the very center to this conflict and they hold the vital key to the solution. They will be pivotal to any peace settlement. We believe that if there is to be peace and just solution to Sudan’s perpetual conflicts, the Nuba must be among the key players rather than sitting at the peripheral of peace talks, as observers or advisors to either the Government or the SPLA. The Nuba will not settle for an agreement that does not guarantee their rights in full. It is not a question of justice but it is a question of accepting our rights for power and wealth sharing.

In our view the underlying cause to this conflict are complex factors. Religion, ethnicity and power sharing are the main factors. The Sudanese identity remains problematic. Who is this Sudanese person? The dichotomy of Sudan being an Arab or an African country needs to be resolve? It is impossible to think of united Sudan when the people remain divided over this issue. In our view the prospect for peace in the Nuba Mountains and for the whole of the country depends entirely on the Sudanese people themselves and they should accept that the fact that they can live together and tolerate each other. If that is not possible then it is better to divide the country into more than two confederal states and Switzerland is the best example in this case. Nuba interest remains with the united Sudan as the first option. We would like to see the Burgenstock cease-fire agreement transformed into peace through development. This would allow development and reconstruction of the destroyed infrastructures in the Nuba Mountains as part of Sudan’s comprehensive peace settlement under IGAD peace forum.

Finally, we must remember that a peaceful and democratic solution to Sudan’s conflict can only be achieved if there is a genuine and comprehensive settlement to the whole conflict in the country, which recognize the rights of all the people of Sudan. Without a just solution to the issue of the Nuba Mountains and other marginalized areas there can be no peace in the Sudan, as workable peace cannot be built on injustice. We appeal to the United States Government and to the American people to support Nuba and the people of other marginalized areas in the Sudan for achieving their political rights including the right to self-determination.

1. The people of the Nuba Mountains demand the right of self-determination to be exercised immediately after the people of the Southern Sudan had their referendum at the end of six-year transitional period.

2. The Issue of the Nuba Mountains and other marginalized areas in the Northern Sudan should be settled within the Framework of Machakos Protocol under the auspices of Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD), and the outcome should be incorporated in the final peace agreement.

3. The representatives from the Nuba political parties and civil society organizations should be invited to IGAD peace talks in Kenya to argue their case.

4. During the six years transitional period, the Nuba Mountains should be administered separately from the North and the South and to be under international supervision. They should be represented in the Broad National Government and have equally share to the political power and to the wealth from the national resources.

5. The Six-month Nuba Cease-Fire Agreement, which has been renewed twice now should be transformed into a permanent ceasefire as part of Sudan’s comprehensive peace settlement of the Nuba issue under IGAD Forum. The international community, the UN-Humanitarian Agencies, NGOs and the GoS all should be involved in the programmes of resettlement, rehabilitation of the Nuba returnees and in the reconstruction and development in the Nuba Mountains as part of the Burgenstock Cease-Fire Agreement.