SUDAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION
30th Annual Conference
Issues on Sudanese Unity and Separation beyond 2011
May 13 – 15, 2011
hosted by
Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio
Center for African Studies
ACCOMODATION
2011 Membership & Conference Registration

PROGRAM

 

Room Assignments at a Glance

 

Registration:

Thursday 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Varsity Inn South Hotel Lobby

Friday and Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., 3^rd floor hallway, Gerlach Hall 375

Sunday 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., 3^rd floor hallway, Gerlach Hall 375

Sessions: Gerlach Hall 375

Reception: Ohio Union Alumni Council Room

Saturday Dinner and Sunday Luncheon: Hale Black Cultural Center MLK Lounge

Break Room: Gerlach Hall common space

 

THURSDAY, MAY 12^th, 2010

Registration: Varsity Inn South Hotel Lobby Room 12.00 Noon to 6:00 p.m.

 

FRIDAY, MAY 13^th, 2010

Conference Opening: 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., Gerlach Hall 375

 

Panel 1: The Referendum and After I

9:30 a.m. to 12:00 Noon, Gerlach Hall 375

CHAIR: Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban

 

“Politics of Blame vs. Politics of Possible: Protest, Action, Resistance: the Missing Footprint of a Lucid Social Movement in Sudan ”

Elsadig Elsheikh, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity-The Ohio State University

“Should I Stay or Should I Go? The 2011 Referendum in Southern Sudan ”

Kim Yi Dionne, Texas A&M University and Cameron Wimpy, Texas A&M University

 “Assessing Interdependence: Risk or Opportunity ?”

Giorgio Musso, University of Genova

“Sudanese independences: 1956 and 2011. Does History Repeat Itself?”

Moritz Mihatsch, Nuffield College , University of Oxford

 

Coffee Break and Lunch (on your own) 12:00-1:30 p.m., Gerlach Hall common space

Films: “Voices of War and Peace in the Southern Sudan ” shown from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

 

Panel 2: Early Sudan : Nubia , Aksum and Egypt

1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., Gerlach Hall 375

CHAIR: Randall Fegley

 

“A Nubian Quattrocento?”

 Jay Spaulding, Kean University

 “ Aksum and Nubia : Battles, Merchants, and Political Fictions in the Ancient Horn of Africa ”

George Hatke, Princeton University

“The Sudanese and other Trans-Saharan African Subculture of Cairo at the end of the 19^th Century”

Terence Walz, Independent Scholar

“Sultan Ali Dinar of Darfur and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan : Rumors and Intelligence Reports, 1900-1914”

Ali B. Dinar, University of Pennsylvania

 

Panel 3: Southern Sudan : Education and Scholarship

4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Gerlach Hall 375

CHAIR: Benaiah Yongo-Bure

 

"The Intellectual History of Southern Sudan”

Scopas Poggo, Ohio State University

 “Post-Conflict Development through Education in South Sudan ”

Tarnjeet Kang, University of Illinois , Urbana-Champaign

 “Focus on South Sudan: The Challenges of Rebuilding Education System in South Sudan ”

Robin Gambu W. Latio, Ohio State University

 

Reception 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., Ohio Union Alumni Council Room

            Speaker: Raymond Brown

 

Board Meeting 8:00-9:30 p.m., Hale Black Cultural Center, Hall of Fame #149

 

SATURDAY, MAY 14^th, 2010

 

Panel 4a: Sudan in Transition I

9.00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Gerlach Hall 375

CHAIR: Scopas Poggo

 

“We Want Empowerment for Our Women: Gendered Activism among Southern Sudanese Women in the Post-CPA and Referendum Period”

Jennifer Erickson, Ball State University and Caroline Faria, Florida International University

“Labor Pains: Rebellion and the Birth of South Sudan ”

Keisha S. Haywood, Ramapo College of New Jersey

“ Khartoum ’s Demographic and Social Transformation”

Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, Rhode Island College

“Evaluation Abuse: The Ghost Houses Evaluation System”

Mohamed I. Elgadi, Group Against Torture in Sudan (GATS)

 

Panel 4b: Sudan in Transition II

9.00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Room to be announced.

CHAIR: Jay Spaulding

 

 “When the Center Cannot Hold: Colonization, Religion, Violence and the Fate of the Sudan ”

Abdullahi Gallab , Arizona State University

“Egyptian Policy Towards Sudan’s Genocidal Wars and Disintegration: Analysis of Colonial and Neocolonial Relations”

Lako Tongun, Pitzer College

 “Political Unrest and Border Issue: An Essay on the Identity Movement in Darfur”
Adam Mahamat, University of Maroua , Cameroon

“Jurisdictions of Foreignness, Government, Age-Sets, and Lost Boys in Condominium Southern Sudan ”

Noel Stringham, University of Virginia

 

Coffee Break and Lunch (on your own) 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Gerlach Hall common space

Films: “Voices of War and Peace in the Southern Sudan ” shown from Noon to 1:00 p.m.

 

Panel 5: The Referendum and After II

1.00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., Gerlach Hall 375

CHAIR: Ali B. Dinar

 

“Language & Education as Factors of Sustainable Relation between the Northern and Southern Sudan Post-Secession”

Ahmed Gumaa Siddiek, Dawadami Community College , Shaqra University

 “Political Mobilization in Post-Referendum North Sudan ”

Mohamed Omer Abdin, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

 “The National State : Between Pluralism, Self-determination and Fragmentation: The State of Sudan (A Model) between Unity and Secession”

Sabier Abdien, Kushitic-Nubian Alliance

“The Intellectual Dimension of the Sudanese Nationalism”

Abdu Mukhtar Musa, The Islamic University of Omdurman

 

Business Meeting 4:00-5:00 p.m., Gerlach Hall 375

 

Banquet/Dinner: 5:30 p.m., Hale Black Cultural Center MLK Lounge

Keynote Speaker: James Duku

 

After 9:00 p.m. – Music and Conversation

 

SUNDAY, MAY 15^th, 2010

 

Panel 6: Resources and External Influences

9.30 a.m. to 12:30 noon,  Gerlach Hall

CHAIR: Stephanie Beswick

 

 “New Challenges to Egypt 's Historical Dominance of the Nile River ”

Kevin Boueri, Macalester University

“ Sudan and China ”

Richard Lobban, Rhode Island College

“ Sudan ’s Foreign Debt: Who Is to Pay It?”

Benaiah Yongo-Bure, Kettering University

“Gezira Agricultural Scheme and Attempts of Privatization”

Siddiq Abdelhadi

“Agricultural Development Strategies for South Sudan ”

Sam L. Laki, Central State University

 

Luncheon: 1:00 p.m., Hale Cultural Center MLK Lounge

OSU graduates Bol Aweng and Jok Dau, will make a short presentation a new health clinic in Piol Village , which they established.

Closing Comments by SSA Officers
Abstracts

 

Panel 1

“Politics of Blame vs. Politics of Possible: Protest, Action, Resistance: the Missing Footprint of a Lucid Social Movement in Sudan ”

Elsadig Elsheikh, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity-The Ohio State University

Since the coup d’état of political Islam of June 89 and the signing of the CPA agreement in 2005, the political debate in Sudan centered around State behavior rather than State responsibility – that debate have paralyzes any positive work for political and intellectual opposition to the political Islam project. Political parties, democratic forces, intellectuals, and the diaspora communities failed to engage with the critical question of how we have got here, who’s responsible of the socio-political disorder, and where the appropriate vehicles for social change might be found. This paper proclaims that --in the age of technology, globalization, and neoliberalism-- social change requires sophisticate grassroots social movement that understands and grounded in the history of the land while looking beyond the confinement of national boundaries to embrace the global/common human experience of social justice struggle. Giving this political pandemonium, the paper then questions the absence of collective action, resource mobilization, and the political processes that would aid social movement to bring about desirable sociopolitical and economic changes, while asserts that social change will not occur as a historic accident but rather as a deliberate and systematic design of a mature/accountable grassroots social movement.

 

“Should I Stay or Should I Go? The 2011 Referendum in Southern Sudan ”

Kim Yi Dionne and Cameron Wimpy, Texas A&M University

In this paper, we report on and discuss the January 2011 referendum election on secession in Southern Sudan . The referendum will be the culmination of the 2005 peace agreement that ended a 22-year civil war, and the results will no doubt cast a shadow on African politics for years to come. We draw on field notes taken in Southern Sudan by one of the authors preceding and during the referendum election, analysis of crowd-sourced data collected in the Sudan Vote Monitor Project, and content analysis of media reports from Sudan (both formal journalistic accounts and informal blogs). The paper will also present preliminary findings from survey data collected during the weeks surrounding the referendum. The survey data will provide contextual information about the plebiscite and present a more in-depth analysis of the expectations of everyday people for the future of Southern Sudan . Finally, engaging the literature on the state in Africa, we will examine the implications of the referendum results for continued territorial integrity in Africa .

 

“Assessing Interdependence: Risk or Opportunity ?”

Giorgio Musso, University of Genova

It is expected that, between January and July 2011, Southern Sudan will become an independent and sovereign state as a result of the self-determination referendum provided by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). Africa will find itself not just with one more state on the map, but with two new states. In his last report to the African Union High Level Implementation Panel on Sudan , former South African president Thabo Mbeki has written that “The principal challenge to the post‐referendum negotiation process is, however, the lack of a common vision concerning the relations between northern and southern Sudan after the referendum.” The thesis of this paper is that interdependence is the key concept to outline such a common vision. The two future countries are bound by much more than a 1.300 miles border: they share two-thirds of the entire Nile basin, oilfields and infrastructures, a huge foreign debt, but also a sizeable flow of trade and remittances, just to name a few of the factors which create an objective relation of interdependence. Of course, these are also potential elements for renewed conflict.  The aim of our study is that of analyzing which factors and conditions will make interdependence a source of stability and wealth, or rather of conflict and disruption.

 

“Sudanese Independences: 1956 and 2011. Does History Repeat Itself?”

Moritz Mihatsch, Nuffield College , University of Oxford

In 1956, after some meddling and some provokingly complicated bureaucratic processes Sudan gained its independence from its Anglo-Egyptian overlords. in July 2011 a comparable development is expected to take place in South Sudan . The paper will revisit the events which lead to Sudanese independence in 1956 and put the events into an analytical comparison to the independence of other African colonies in that period. In a second step the events, positions and actors of 1956 are contrasted with their counterparts in 2011. By doing so, the paper attempts to uncover some surprising similarities between the two Sudanese independences. At the core of the paper is the idea that nations formulate their national identity for the first time in their struggle for independence. The more clearly defined this struggle for independence is, the clearer a national idea can be found and agreed upon. When however the national independence ends up to be the result of a bureaucratic process rather than a real struggle, no such national idea is established. In consequence the newly independent unit may be a functioning state with elections and a state apparatus etc. but may fail as a nation to generate the necessary cohesiveness and inclusiveness. The paper argues that this is what happened in Sudan in 1956 and this is what South Sudan runs a risk to do in 2011.

 

Panel 2

“A Nubian Quattrocento?”

 Jay Spaulding, Kean University

The period between the fall of Old Dongola to the Mamluks and the rise of the Funj kingdom of Sinnar , an age centered in the fifteenth century of the common era, was a transitional interval in the history of the Nile valley Sudan . From a conventional scholarly viewpoint based in Cairo and focused along a north-south axis of analysis, it is also a “dark age” for which few primary sources are available and information of any sort is scanty.  Previous scholarship, following the imagination of Ibn Khaldun and the predispositions of European Orientalism, has sometimes filled the period with a spurious invasion of Arabs. In recent years, however, this received interpretation has come under criticism, and the rediscovery of the precolonial Nubian-speaking communities of northern and central Kordofan has provided dramatic new sources and opened the door to a major revision of understanding concerning the transition from medieval to early modern in northern Sudan .

                This paper presents a new vision of the fifteenth century that draws upon the insights of recent scholarship. It proposes an east-west axis of analysis that reveals the creation of one polity, associated initially with Suakin, that came to dominate the northern Nile valley districts and the east, and a second polity, based in Kordofan, that dominated the Gezira and the west. The western movement of the fifteenth century gave rise to the comparatively short-lived Tunjur regime in what would then become Wadai and Dar Fur, and in about 1500 to the more successful Funj sultanate in the Nile valley. However, the status of the erstwhile eastern polity remained somewhat in dispute for at least a century until the suppression of the revolt of `Ajib the Great.

 

“ Aksum and Nubia : Battles, Merchants, and Political Fictions in the Ancient Horn of Africa ”

George Hatke, Princeton University

In the history of interaction between Nubia and the Ethiopian kingdom of Aksum during the early first millennium CE, the narrative of the Aksumite attacks on Meroë in the fourth century figures prominently. To date, however, there has been little effort to contextualize Aksum ’s military activities in Nubia within the broader framework of contact between Ethiopia and the eastern Sudan , while the extent, nature, and duration of Aksumite rule in Nubia remains poorly understood. This paper seeks to shed light on these issues on the basis of epigraphic, literary, and archaeological evidence. In so doing it argues that the Aksumites were more interested in protecting their western frontier than in controlling Nubia directly, and that, though Aksum continued to trade with Nubia even after the fall of Meroë, the claims to Nubia by Aksumite kings in their royal titles served an essentially ideological function.

 

“The Sudanese and other Trans-Saharan African Subculture of Cairo at the end of the 19^th Century”

Terence Walz, Independent Scholar

In the last four decades of the 19^th century, Egypt experienced a large scale emigration of Africans coming from regions of the continent south of Aswan .  The great majority were forced migrants, victims of the slave trade that flourished until the Anglo-Egyptian Convention of 1877 but continuing nonetheless for at least another five years. Of these, southern Sudanese counted for the greater number, but Abyssinians were also numerous, especially those originally from regions south and west of the Amharic-speaking highlands. Another important group were Nubians from the riverain country lying between the first and fifth cataracts of the Nile who came in search of employment.   Together these various strands of African-born peoples contributed to the development of an African street or popular culture that flourished between 1870 and 1935. The numbers of Sudanese, Abyssinians and Nubians in Egypt can be followed to some extent in the Egyptian national censuses from 1848 onward, although imprecisely. From roughly 30,000 in 1848, their numbers peaked at close to 130,000 in 1882 and then fell to around 100,000 in the 1907 and 1917 censuses. The imprecision of census figures relates to the fact that the authorities—Egyptian or British—had evolving ideas of what constituted African nationality. In the period after 1868 and before 1907, Sudanese and Nubians were counted as a single people; before 1868 and after 1907, they are separate groupings. In the 1897 census they were considered Egyptian and not counted at all. Therefore reliable figures for the growth in numbers of these separate populations during the whole of the nineteenth century are lacking but nonetheless powerfully suggestive. Whatever their number, so numerous were they in Cairo by 1877 that when a Dinka ex-slave named Daniel Sorur was ordained a priest in the fashionable new quarter of Cairo called Ismailia, crowds of Africans thronged to see him and loudly celebrate the occasion.

Much of what can be gathered about the African subculture they created must be read between the lines of traditional sources. Tell-tale examples can be seen in the growing popularity of the zar cult, the increasing use of “African” entertainments in upper class weddings, and the growth of beer taverns and dance stalls where African-style dances were featured during the moulids or anniversary celebrations of local saints. The records of the Comboni missionaries in Egypt are also useful for the Sudanese “feast days” they mention. The manifestation of this culture as played out in the streets and at common festivals is rarely commented on, and yet it can and must be connected to African festivals and slave culture that was found in Khartoum , Istanbul , Tunis , and even Crete .

 

“Sultan Ali Dinar of Darfur and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan : Rumors and Intelligence Reports, 1900-1914”

Ali B. Dinar, University of Pennsylvania

Following the defeat of the Mahdist State by the Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1898, Darfur regained its independence in 1899 when Ali Dinar reclaimed the throne of Darfur . While the British were not eager in annexing Darfur for its remoteness and its expensive financial burden, Ali Dinar was eager to keep the colonial forces away from Darfur . By May 1901, Ali Dinar proposed financial help for the condominium government which it accepted and demanded an annual payment of ₤500 from the Sultan as nominal tribute. Although Darfur was theoretically part of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, however in reality Ali Dinar was the absolute ruler until 1915 when Darfur was re-occupied and annexed to the rest of Sudan . In dealing with Ali Dinar, the government’s contact person was Slatin Pasha, the Inspector General who previously served as the governor of Darfur during the Turco-Egyptian rule. The relationship between Darfur and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was complicated by Ali Dinar’s military activities across the borders with Kordofan, his conflict with France over the western territories that used to be part of Darfur , and the general fear of an uprising similar to the Mahdist movement. Since communication between Ali Dinar and the Anglo-Egyptian government was carried mainly through letters and emissaries, this situation has given rise to intelligence gathering about Ali Dinar.

This paper will examine intelligence reports hosted at the Sudan National Records office which were provided by intelligence agents, national and foreign traders, Ali Dinar’s emissaries, individual citizens and pretenders to the throne. These reports which were either addressed to Ali Dinar or to Slatin Pasha, covered wide array of topics that range from personal affairs, Ali Dinar’s style of governance and presumed death to complaints and counter complaints about his treatment of traders and their merchandise.  These reports will also be examined in terms of migration from oral to print and vice versa.

 

Panel 3

"The Intellectual History of Southern Sudan”

Scopas Poggo, Ohio State University

The missionary-educated Southern Sudanese in the first half of the 20^th century laid the foundation for political organizations in the South. It was the Southern clerks, teachers, book-keepers, and clergymen who helped establish political parties, and also enlighten the vast majority of the Southern population about their political, economic and religious subjection by the Northern Sudanese civilian or military government in Khartoum . These educated Southerners also provided the Southern masses with vision, goals, and objectives that shaped their political aspirations and destiny. Southern intellectuals were very instrumental in planning and providing the leadership in military campaigns against their Northern adversaries. On the diplomatic front, these Southerners engaged the Northern politicians in round-table peace conferences whether inside the Sudan or in the capitals of the neighboring countries. In some cases, the peace negotiations succeeded (the Aaddis Ababa Peace Agreement of 1972 and the Naivasha Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005), and in other instances, there were major failures (e.g. the Round-Table Conference in Khartoum in 1965). The January 9, 2011 referendum was a culmination of the tireless efforts of the Southern intellectual and political activities inside and outside the Sudan .

“Post-Conflict Development through Education in South Sudan ”

Tarnjeet Kang, University of Illinois , Urbana-Champaign

Following the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005 in Sudan the region of South Sudan began to create its own government and platform. While the government of Southern Sudan has touched upon the issue of education it is still severely lacking in detail and thoroughness. Current educational efforts rely on local communities and non-governmental organizations. The Child Act of 2008 briefly dedicates a short section to promising education to children, however little planning has gone into creating an education system for the South that has a unique opportunity to avoid colonial and imperial mistakes of the past. This period of time is an opportunity to create an institution that will assist in strengthening South Sudan ’s overall development. With less than a quarter of the population being literate, and gender inequity being prevalent, this is an urgent issue. In this paper I will argue that the government of Southern Sudan will need to address some critical issues in its education system to avoid perpetuating underdevelopment and neocolonialism. In particular, the issues of language and the building of research and training institutions will be discussed and analyzed by noting what infrastructure currently exists, and what needs to be developed.

 

“Focus on South Sudan: The Challenges of Rebuilding Education System in South Sudan ”

Robin Gambu W. Latio,

The people of South Sudan have participated in historic referendum elections in which they have a choice of voting to be part of the “ Sudan ” or become an independent nation. Should the vote favor independence, it is a known fact that South Sudanese will face many challenges in their Nation building endeavors.  However, to claim that South Sudanese are unable to rule themselves is premature and inaccurate.  Once confirmed as a nation, indeed South Sudanese face a daunting task of rebuilding their new nation from scratch because during the fifty-six year of struggle for independence, the wars have completely destroyed the entire infrastructure, economic and social structures. Construction of roads, Educational institutions, hospitals and improved agriculture are some of the primary concerns that must be addressed immediately and simultaneous. In this paper I address the challenges that educators will face in their endeavor to build the education system in South Sudan . Education Policy, curriculum development, construction of school building, teacher training, poverty  and role of all stakeholders in the development of education system in South Sudan are factors that must be carefully addressed if education that will produce educated and productive citizen who will effectively contribute to the development of the country.

 

Panel 4a

“We Want Empowerment for Our Women: Gendered Activism among Southern Sudanese Women in the Post-CPA and Referendum Period”

Jennifer Erickson, Ball State University and Caroline Faria, Florida International University

Since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), connections between South Sudanese women in the diaspora and at "home" have revealed new and gendered forms of female political subjectivity, citizenship, and activism. This paper discusses the emergence of transnational women's organizing efforts through a focus on a 2008 conference held in Juba, South Sudan , and hosted by the South Sudan Women's Empowerment Network (SSWEN). Women from most regions of South Sudan, as well as women Darfur and Khartoum , attended the conference. Our paper highlights everyday aspects of the conference, including unifying and dividing moments, as we show positive outcomes and challenges to women’s – and hence South Sudan’s – empowerment and solidarity. Our work seeks to challenge the image of refugee women as politically disengaged in the nation-building process, instead demonstrating the dynamic, overt, and contested organizing work of women in promoting gender equality in the new South Sudan .

 

“Labor Pains: Rebellion and the Birth of South Sudan ”

Keisha S. Haywood, Ramapo College of New Jersey

When 99% of South Sudan’s population voted for independence in January 2011, most of the world assumed that this also meant the same percentage supported South Sudan ’s current government. This is not necessarily the case, as evidenced by violent clashes between South Sudan ’s army and rebel groups in the region. The goal of this paper is to explain the reasons for these clashes by examining the groups involved. A key feature of these groups is that their leaders were previously members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (now the army of South Sudan ). What caused these leaders to split from the SPLM/A? What would make these groups lay down their weapons? To address these questions, I will begin with a review of existing theories on why splinter groups form. I will then provide a history of the SPLM and its splinter groups, including the role of these groups in the peace process and upcoming secession. Next, I will explore whether the existing theories can explain the current rebellion in South Sudan . I will conclude with a comparison between South Sudan’s splinter groups and those in other separatist movements, and thoughts on the future of splinter groups in an independent South Sudan .

 

“ Khartoum ’s Demographic and Social Transformation”

Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, Rhode Island College

Decades of civil war and chronic conflict have displaced internally millions of its marginalized citizens who are now living in and around the capital city. The three towns known as Khartoum has grown from about 500,000 persons in the early 1970s to perhaps 7-8 million making it one of Africa ’s largest conurbations. No longer a “northern” city, its streets, informal markets, public transport and parks are filled with multiple ethnic groups from the South and Nuba Mountains , western Sudanese from Darfur and Kordofan. And there is easy movement between the main twin cities of Khartoum and the Blue Nile capital Wad Medani. Politics aside, the “new Sudan ” is actively under construction alongside the dereks and cranes that mark the new skyline of Khartoum , and the capital city now contains over a third of the nation’s population. For those who knew the more homogeneous old Sudan and old Khartoum , the changes in the physical environment of the capital city are stunning and dramatic.

This presentation will focus upon the following dimensions of the demographic and social transformation wrought during the quarter century of Sudan’s Islamism: 1) changes in public space and attendant popular association; 2) residential & neighborhood profile ; 3) IDP camps;  4) youth changing attitudes (through internet, mobiles, voluntary associations);  5) marriage and family transformations ; 6) unchanged barriers;  7) intended and unintended consequences of the “Civilization project.”

 

“Evaluation Abuse: The Ghost Houses Evaluation System”

Mohamed I. Elgadi, Group Against Torture in Sudan (GATS)

The Nazi medical human experimentation stands as one of the darkest crimes in the history of human kind. Medical torture was applied on the Jewish prisoners (and also on gay men and Gypsies) in Concentration Camps in Germany , Poland , Romania , and other occupied territories. Doctors without ethics like Eduard Wirths and Carl Vaerrnet carefully and in cold blood evaluated these horrific experiments that usually resulted in death or permanent disability. The purpose of these hazardous experiments was to develop new weapons or to enhance military training of the Nazi horror machine.

This presentation is about the abuse of evaluation research methods and how the current regime of President Omer Albashir added new dimensions in this field. In addition to the few examples cited by the evaluation guru Carol Weiss in the widely used evaluation text, more examples will be shared from Sudan . Led by Torture Professor Nafi, the security police ran a number of evaluation experiments on detainees that in some cases brought back the Nazi system. After the initial evaluation at the Amara, done by Torture Professor Nafi or his assistant, the victim was sent back to the Ghost House with a torture prescription. Over the next few months, the junior torturer’s role would be to implement and monitor the progress of the plan.   The victims usually were able to identify the ongoing absurd evaluation and would respond accordingly according to their own interest not necessarily the torturer’s. First-hand and second-hand testimonies and data will be used to support the argument on the failure of the Ghost Houses Evaluation System.

 

Panel 4b

“When the Center Cannot Hold: Colonization, Religion, Violence and the Fate of the Sudan ”

Abdullahi Gallab , Arizona State University

A referendum took place in the Southern part of the Sudan from the 9^th to 15^th of January 2011, on the future status of the Southern region whether to remain part of a united Sudan or secede as a separate country. The referendum was one of the consequences of the 2005 Naivasha or the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the Islamist ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army(SPLM/A). The agreement called for a six-year interim period, during which the NCP and SPLM share control of a government of national unity and work together to make unity for the Southern Sudanese an attractive option. On 7^th February 2011 the final result of the referendum was published with 98.83% voting in favor of independence despite centuries of coexistence within the same country. After decades of violence the Sudan , one of the oldest civilizations and the largest country in Africa and the Middle East is destined to break into two countries.  How does colonization of religion and its consequences played a pivotal role in bringing this moment to such an end.    

 

“Egyptian Policy Towards Sudan’s Genocidal Wars and Disintegration: Analysis of Colonial and Neocolonial Relations”

Lako Tongun, Pitzer College

This paper is a preliminary exploration of Egyptian policy towards the Sudan and its genocidal wars and disintegration. The main argument is this: Egypt has been complicit in the genocidal wars in the Sudan . The phrase “genocidal wars” here refers to the conflicts in Southern Sudan, Nuba Mountains , Southern Blue Nile, Eastern Sudan and currently Darfur . These are essentially the “African Peripheries” (APs) which have, to a great extent, defined the character of the “internal” wars in the Sudan for the past 54 years (indeed, a year before independence in 1956). Relations between Sudan and other countries may be viewed as either a contribution to assist a Sudanese regime in resolving its internal conflicts or to exacerbate the lethality and capacity (political, economic, military, diplomatic, and cultural) of the regime to sustain these genocidal wars against the APs, and also to maintain the status quo, and hence, the riverine Arab hegemony. This is arguably and equally true with respect to the long history of the Egyptian engagements with regimes in Khartoum , since 1956.

This paper examines different modes of complicity from advising, consent, concealment of mass killings to a failure to denounce the atrocities. Secondly, the paper discusses Egyptian interests and objectives in the Sudan . Their pursuit reflects colonial and neocolonial legacies, especially towards the APs. Thirdly, the Egyptian influence has consequently distorted the framing of the Sudanese crises as external (Arab interest) rather than internal, namely, Sudanese. This external orientation has failed to resolve the internal crises. The APs have no alternatives but to pursuit wars of liberation, started in the South. With the South on its road to a separate state, some of the other APs may follow the same path. The disintegration of the Sudan , an artificial colonial construct, will be a reality on July 9 or 10, 2011. Egypt , a junior partner in the Anglo-Egyptian condominium is complicit.

 

“Political Unrest and Border Issue: An Essay on the Identity Movement in Darfur”
Adam Mahamat, University of Maroua, Cameroon
The Darfur crisis has reached an international level from the year 2003 when the Janjaweed militias, sponsored by El Bashir's regime, fought against civilian populations in the region. The climate of violence, made chronic by the movement of arms, caused  thousands of displaced people in Sudan and Chad , and encourages some people to flee towards the border with Chad . The movement of refugees was increasing when the Heads of State of both countries were on bad terms. They normalized their relations on the occasion of the visit of President of Chad to the Sudanese capital. Hence the need to dwell on the role of the border in peacetime and during times of conflict. The Darfur crisis also offers an opportunity to explore movement of the rebels involved in the operations of violence. The use of the border for strategic and geo-strategic operations helps to understanding the mobility of actors and their respective rear-bases in both countries which 19 ethnic groups share. The issue of displacement of identities, fluid delivered through the neighborhood and ethno-cultural similarities, is another important focal issue of this study. The significance of the border is highlighted: loophole to civilian casualties, a strategy for the rebels, arm control for States and their auxiliaries. The birth of the National Liberation Front (FROLINAT) in Nyala (Darfur), following the uprisings of 1965 in the Guera division ( Chad ), is illustrative of the ambivalence of the border. Identities shift invariably unfold in national and international spaces.

 

“Jurisdictions of Foreignness, Government, Age-Sets, and Lost Boys in Condominium Southern Sudan ”

Noel Stringham, University of Virginia

Most histories of Condominium Southern Sudanese (1898-1956) feature proto-nationalist narratives about aggrieved natives resisting foreigner invaders. However, the peoples then living in Southern Sudan did not conceive of foreignness according to subsequent nationalist categories and used the word jur (foreigner) for Europeans, Turks, Egyptians, Northern Sudanese, and neighboring Southern peoples as well as for government and sometimes even the first-generation of western-educated males from local lineages. Thus among Southern peoples jur is diction for jurisdiction as well as foreigner. Southern peoples derived their conjoined concept of foreignness and government from earlier kujur prophets who stood outside local descent factions, united age-sets, reconciled feuding parties, and lead military coalitions. Southern peoples also had a history of losing boys to foreigners before chiefs began collecting boys “like taxes” for missionary and government schools. This paper argues that educated Southerners who attended the 1947 Juba Conference, saw themselves as a junior age-set who needed to “cross the river” and endure Northerners’ initiation before joining the government (jur). Southerners also believed that government could settle future disputes with Northerners because government stood outside proto-nationalist loyalties. Thus in the 1950s, educated Southerners saw themselves as a separate age-set and equated political unity with relational foreignness.

 

Panel 5

“Language & Education as Factors of Sustainable Relation between the Northern and Southern Sudan Post-Secession”

Ahmed Gumaa Siddiek, Dawadami Community College, Shaqra University

The referendum on 9^th January 2011 is of great importance as the Southern Sudanese will vote either to stay within one united Sudan or support secession to establish an independent state. This paper is addressing this issue as academic advice to the decision makers and suggesting some points for sustainable future relations-post secession based on mutual respect and interests between neighbours, breathing the same air and drinking from the same River Nile. It is important that mutual understanding and corporation should continue to end up the long, long conflict between the two people. Language and education are two factors that can help to keep sustainable relations between the two parts of the Sudan. The South is in practical need for maintaining and developing its educational resources, so it can benefit from the infrastructure that already exists in the North such as the teaching force, educational materials, schools and Universities. The Arabic language can also play a positive role, if it is adopted by the Southerners by giving it an official status in the government offices and in education. Arabic is already the Lingua Franca in the South and it is familiar to the majority of the population there.

 

“Political Mobilization in Post-Referendum North Sudan”

Mohamed Omer Abdin, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

Although South Sudan have had approximately 20% of the seats in all parliaments since independence, this share was not sufficient to induce Northern political parties to consider an alliance with Southern-based parties. For the past 55 years Islam has been the basis of political mobilization for all Northern parties, with the exception of the Communist, Baathist and other small progressive parties. For northern political parties, forming a coalition with secular Southern political elements would have been a risky choice because it could deprive these parties of the support of their religious base. Demands for a secular constitution by some of the northern political elite had been only accepted by the public because it had been understood as a necessary concession to settle the conflict in the South. Since all indicators show that the people of South Sudan will vote for secession, there remains an unresolved question of whether religion will remain the basis of political mobilization in North Sudan. This presentation explores how secession could affect strategies of political mobilization in North Sudan.

 

“The National State: between Pluralism, Self-Determination and Fragmentation: The State of Sudan (A Model) between Unity and Secession”

Sabier Abdien, Kushitic-Nubian Alliance

The nationalist state in Africa in general, and Sudan in particular has been based on geography and politics and no heed was given to and culture privacies and nationalist groups, therefore it was built on a one culture foundation and the hegemony of the central generation an accumulated bitter feeling of resentment among these nationalisms of original affiliation. The present entity of the called Sudan state with its current boundaries that were known long time ago has been rich in religious, racial and linguistic pluralism, starting from multi divans and faiths through multi languages and cultures to multi races. This state of affairs has been in control since the ancient emperors and kingdoms in Kush with their different stages, and then Nabta and Marawe, and the Nubian Christian Kingdoms up to the Funj Sultanate with its capital in Sinnar. Man was destined to coexist in this area, thus he was able to establish one of the most prestigious human civilizations. Foreign invasion had been one of the biggest challenges facing the people of those kingdoms, one that destroy a civilization and obliterate culture in order to impose its culture. that was the way those nations were. This happened starting with the Hicks's cowboys and the Ashore to the creek, to the Persian and Romans, to the Abyssinians and Muslim Arabs. Therefore the phenomena of civilization regression towards the south had begun since the rise of cities in Alugsur, Karma, Marawe and then Suba, as well as the regression to quest for more fertile lands the were more secured against enemies. Until the advent of civilian unipolarism that chose down the temples of Fila and Calabash by the Nubati king Slko supported with the Roman Emperor following his conversion to Christianity. This temple used to be the magnetic point that attracted annually thousands of the Nubadeens and Balmeen to visit their idol goddess Isis. It similary happens in Suba and other areas after the Islamic Arabs invasion and destruction of churches and their tutning into mosques. As such, the religious oneness has envolved and has been associated in modern Sudan with dictatorships, repression and the crackdown on opposition politicians. In sit of the fat that the prevalent Islam was the Sufi one, but following the collapse of the Funj Sultanate in Sinnar that the Nubian language had died in Alawa and was replaced by the Arabic language and Islam had expanded on the ruins of Christianity. We therefore notice that since the eras of foreign rules such as the Turkish and the English, Arabs has been established as the official language of the state as well as giving priority to the Islamic religion and obliterating the rest of faiths. We can also notice the same things happened coupled with a wave of repression even the Sufis and tribes chiefs during the era of the national Mahadist revolution. Other independent 1956. At the national rule time, the government present the revolution that foundation by boundaries peoples, so they talked their rights completely they established new constitution to achieve political raivites and cultural, after the policy of Islamic movement appear – Numairi noticed the sharia, under the looking ahead of Islamic movement in 1983. Applied Shariaa Islamic Law, this increase the war at Southern and extension to the North at Elinkaz rule 1989, which called the Islamic and Arabian State, that increase the people to call for self-determination.

 

“The Intellectual Dimension of the Sudanese Nationalism”

Abdu Mukhtar Musa, The Islamic University of Omdurman

The Sudan is a blend of Arab culture, Islamic religion and African environment. It is a complex of diverse cultural trends that need to be harmonized to yield strength, otherwise would endanger its national cohesion. Sudanese nationalism has been a movement of cultural intercourse reflecting this dynamic synthesis. This national composition reached its climax in the Mahdiyya state when the strong coherence to Islamic feeling by the Sudanese people acted as a unifying factor.

This melting-pot process was fostered by a long process of Islamization and Arabization and was influenced by the Arab nationalism of Egypt and Al-Sham for the link through the Ottoman Empire. However, this trend did not extend to the South giving birth to two different identities. The early rise of national consciousness and sentiment in the Sudan can be attributed to two interrelated factors: firstly, the anomalous status of the country as an Anglo-Egyptian colony; and, secondly, the rebirth of militant nationalism in Egypt after the World War I. The intellectual appeal of Egypt to the Sudanese intelligentsia stimulated the growth of nationalist ideas and associations at early stage of colonial period.

This paper tries to examine how the intellectuals contributed to crystallizing nationalism as well as spearheading the nationalist movement to the attainment of independence.

 

Panel 6 

“New Challenges to Egypt's Historical Dominance of the Nile River”

Kevin Boueri, Macalester University
This paper explores the potential impact of Sudan's January referendum on the “hydropolitics” of the Nile River. Throughout the 20th and 21st century Egypt has assumed the role of regional bully to safeguard the flow of the Nile River. In 1959, Cairo formed an alliance with Khartoum through the Nile Waters Agreement, which has allowed both nations to veto any upstream projects that would hinder the flow of the Nile. Although Cairo and Khartoum have been at odds in the past decades, they have maintained a united front against upstream development. However, as a result of rapid population growth throughout the region and the resulting necessity to produce more food, upstream nations have begun to challenge Egyptian and Sudanese claims to the Nile. How will the January referendum affect the current politics along the Nile? How would an independent South Sudan affect Cairo's and Khartoum's dominance of the Nile waters?

 

“Sudan and China”

Richard Lobban, Rhode Island College

This paper will focus on a concise history of diplomatic relations between  these two nations. What have been the themes, changes and constants and what are the issues and mutual interests that both have. Special focus  will be on the topics of arms, networks of key persons, and oil as well as the post referendum period.

 

“Sudan’s Foreign Debt: Who Is to Pay It?”

Benaiah Yongo-Bure, Kettering University

One of the key post-referendum issues Northern and Southern Sudan are addressing is that of the country’s foreign debt. Diplomats, lawyers, and politicians may have their own perspectives of resolving such issues. However, the premise of this paper is that, since the borrowed resources were supposed to generate returns, then part of those returns should be used to pay off the debt. Hence, an assessment of the amounts of various loans and where and on what they were used should be undertaken so that the beneficiaries can be located and be made to pay for their benefits. Where the loan is misused, then those who were in charge should shoulder the responsibility. Where loans were made to a corrupt government or officials, the lenders and the corrupt borrowers will have to share the burden of their machinations. Any party who did not benefit, or worse suffered, from the use of the borrowed funds should not be forced/coerced into paying the debt. Such an act would be injustice at its peak; and yet the peace is supposed to resolve the problem of injustice.

 

“Gezira Agricultural Scheme and Attempts of Privatization”

Siddiq Abdelhadi

Gezira Agricultural Scheme is known as one of the largest irrigated agricultural projects, worldwide, that under one administration. It was established in 1925. The idea does originally go back to the prominent American investor Leigh Hunt.  It was considered a public sector scheme. The government was one among three partners of Gezira Scheme. The contractual relationship between the three partners had experienced continuous attempts of changing. The mere essence of those attempts was to privatize its ownership. The tenants had succeeded to abort all these attempts until 2005 when the Islamic Government succeeded to pass a new code. This code, which is known as 2005 code, has changed the relationship between partners and stipulated private ownership of tenancy. As matter of fact, the code came as a result to the persistent policy dictated by The World Bank. This presentation is intended to discuss the disastrous economic, social and political consequences of the implementation of 2005 code, which had not come in full play yet. and intended also to show how that privatization does negatively affect the lives of five million inhabitants in the region. 

 

“Agricultural Development Strategies for South Sudan”

Sam L. Laki, Central State University

This paper outlines the ecology and the economy of South Sudan; reviews past agricultural development performance; suggests agricultural development strategies that policy makers can pursue to provide the necessary conditions for economic development. The paper concludes by recommending economic policies, trade policies and agricultural policies that focus on investments in human capital, biological capital, physical capital and formation of vital development institutions. Sound investments in the prime movers of economic development will lead to high rates of return to the South Sudan economy.

 

 

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