Panel #6B:
"Darfur: Another Civil War?"
From Linear to Quadratic Equation: Dar Fur in the Quest for the Political
Restructuring of the Sudan
Elias Nyamlell Wakoso
Grayson County College
Department of Literature and Languages
After over 87 years, the descendants and followers of the great African
king and statesman, Ali Dinar, have taken up arms to end political domination,
religious deception, and economic exploitation from Khartoum. I believe, Ali
Dinar is turning in his grave and asking the critical question: “Why did
it take you so long, my children, to do what you are doing now?” The answer
lies in the patience (sabur), good faith, and hope of the marginalized peoples
of the Sudan that the political elites in Khartoum would one day heed to
rational demands to end the exploitative relationship established in the
country. Patience, good faith, and hope are not meaningful concepts
to explain complex political situations. More importantly, these are concepts
that are now irrelevant in our attempt to understand the role Dar Fur is playing,
and will play, in the quest for restructuring the political system in the
Sudan. The thrust of the argument in this exploratory essay is that, the
heightened political and military campaign by Dar Fur against domination from
Khartoum will forever change the traditional “avoidance of reality” by the
Khartoum elites that only South Sudanese have grievances against the governance
of the country because of Southerners’ anti-Islamism and anti-Arabism stance.
The rise of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Sudan Liberation Army (SLM/SLM),
in Dar Fur, has changed the linear South-North equation into a quadratic equation.
Not pretending to be a mathematician, I belief that the Khartoum elites will
be naïve to use a linear equation formula to solve a quadratic equation
problem. The political analysis that will be developed here will inevitably
deal with the critical question of whether the Sudan is now on the final
leg of its journey into disintegration? Will the political restructuring of
the Sudan save it from its path to self-destr uction? The answers will
unfold in the essay.
Khartoum and Crisis of Darfur
Gamal Adam
Department of Anthropology
York University, Canada
Darfur society was organized by a set of laws, rules and traditions, which
evolved over centuries (1500-1972). These laws and traditions formed a social
system that regulated movement of individuals and groups, their settlement
within the region and their interaction with other ethnic groups. However,
these laws were revoked in 1972 and replaced by an administrative system (Alhum
Ashabi Almahalli) which undermined the role of local chiefs (mayors). Since
1985 the central government in Khartoum through the Ministry of Defence has
provided arms to Arab ethnic groups in Darfur and Kordofan under a pretext
that they should defend themselves against attacks from the SPLA. The Arabs
then formed ethnic militias that have been recognized by the central government
and turned the arms on Blacks in Darfur. The government considered this process
as a milestone towards the Arabization of Sudanese society. Based on the author’s
personal experience as well as on the research that he has been conducting
on Darfur since 1988, this paper traces the role of the central government
in the crisis of the region. In particular, the author uses the concept of
nationalism to describe and analyse how the central government in Khartoum
has transformed Darfur from a society whose ethnic groups were tied together
by rules and laws to a society of the jungle where ethnic groups hope and
plan to eliminate one another.