May 16-18, 2008
hosted at:
Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida

Call for Papers
Theme: "Sudan's Wars and Peace Agreements"

REGISTRATION FORM

ACCOMODATION

Conference Program

ABSTRACTS

Presenter: Nahid Abunama-Elgadi

Affiliation: Sudanese-American Young Adult Project, Temple University

Presentation Title: Teaching Islam for Sudanese-American Students: A Human Rights-Integrated Curriculum [Presentation Two]

Abstract:

            This paper is a continuation of the same presentation/abstract which will first be addressed by Mohamed Ibrahim (please see abstract below).

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Presenter: Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf

Affiliation: Qatar University and Sir William Luce Fellow, Durham University

Presentation Title: Initiating Inclusive Security, Waging Peace: Darfurian Politics and Culture in the Eyes of its Women

Abstract:

            For the past few years, Sudanese women hailing from the besieged region of Darfur, have been diligently working to ameliorate the pervasive victimization and suffering in their home communities. Efforts inside and outside of Sudan have been systematic in drawing attention to the worsening conditions in the region. This paper will link the two types of these activist networks elucidating some similarities and differences that set diaspora politics apart from other Sudanese activism in Darfur. Of particular interest are the numerous events that were organized in places ranging from the U.S. Congress, the National Security Council, the U.S. Department of State, the World Bank, and the United Nations among numerous organizations that shape foreign policy vis-a-vis this beleaguered region. Analysis of the significances of Darfurian female activist networks in these locations will be addressed. Their input in peace talks will be highlighted specifically with respect to three fundamental areas: first, post-conflict reconstruction, second enabling the return of internally-displaced persons and finally, mobilization and inclusion of women as key players in any future peace negotiations.

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Presenter: Mey Eltayeb Ahmed

Affiliation: University of Khartoum

Presentation Title: The Peace Agreement Does Not Guarantee Sustainable Peace in Sudan"

Abstract:

            This paper aims to explore the challenges faced by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and tries to answer an important question: does this agreement guarantee a sustainable peace in Sudan? The prolonged civil war in the south, the Nuba Mountains, the Blue Nile and Eastern Sudan have been quelled by different peace agreements, however, the ongoing conflict in Darfur reflects the incompatibility in interests, needs and perceptions between the different antagonized groups. This presentation investigates these different peace agreements signed since the 1970s with a special focus on the Sudanese experience with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) the, Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement (ESPA) and the ongoing peace negotiations in Darfur (DPA).

            The paper argues that first, to understand the causes of the conflict and its escalations one must second learn the lessons from the failed Addis Ababa Peace Agreement of 1972. The ways to accommodate the disputed groups' interests and to and develop an appropriate conflict management system is to change the negative interaction between the national and traditional management system. The CPA however, reflects several weaknesses and challenges, especially conflict resolution and conflict transformation approaches. The latter have different mechanisms which should be considered. Ultimately, building sustainable peace and development requires participation of all stakeholders, transparency, and joint goals to carry over the bumps of the peace road of the future. Ultimately I will offer crucial conclusions and recommendations which will shed light on important steps for sustainable conflict management and development in Sudan.

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Presenter: Mom Kou Nhial Arou

Affiliation: University of Khartoum

Title of Presentation: The Comprehensive PeaceAgreement and the Future of the Sudan

Abstract:

       The Sudan People's Liberation Movement and the Sudan Government signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in Nairobi in 2005. This Agreement ended the civil war and granted to the South Sudan an autonomous system of government with a legislative assembly as well as a separate army. The South Will Vote in a referendum in 2011 to determine the future of the Sudan; whether it will remain united or separated into two States -- South and North.

      This paper will attempt to speculate on the future of the Sudan in light of this referendum. The paper will refer to the CPA, the Constitution, and the documents related to the problems of implementation.

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Presenter: Naseem Badiey

Affiliation: University of Oxford

Presentation Title: The Local Politics of Post-Conflict Reconstruction: Land, Urban Development, and State-Building in Juba (2005-2007)

Abstract:

            The post-conflict reconstruction process in Southern Sudan has encountered various challenges since the signing of the CPA, including the slow implementation of the CPA protocols, continued fighting and insecurity in various areas, slow dispersal of funds through the World Bank Multi-donor Trust Fund, and pervasive lack of capacity in the new institutions of the GoSS. Another important, though often overlooked challenge has been delays in urban development in Juba resulting from local resistance to land allocation and IDP resettlement in the new capital.

            This essay examines the role of local politics and societal organizations in the process of post-conflict reconstruction by examining ongoing disputes between the GoSS and the Government of Central Equatoria State in the first two years of the interim period. I argue that these disputes indicate underlying problems with the state-building process in Southern Sudan. An understanding of how local communities view and interact with the post-conflict state is an essential aspect of the study of post-conflict reconstruction; it is as critical to a successful transition as are the national and international dynamics of post-conflict politics.

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Presenter: Malik Balla

Affiliation: Michigan State University

Presentation Title: The Prospect of the Participation of Sudanese in the Diaspora in the Election in Sudan

Abstract:

            The upcoming election in Sudan, as a result of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) is approaching. This election is expected to be a decisive moment in Sudan's history of the issue of which elected official will oversee the country as well as the South Sudan decision on self-determination. As the election approaches Sudan's demography has witnessed its greatest historical shift because of internal displacement and massive immigration due to the Islamist military coup of 1989 and its imposition of an ideology widely rejected by many Sudanese people.

            The previous attempt to involve Sudanese living abroad in an election was limited only to graduates who worked in the Gulf area or those studying overseas. Few communities were involved during military regimes, largely because people within Sudan were either not interested or a little apprehensive.

            Currently the situation is very different because the Sudanese communities in the diaspora now represent all walks of life. Even though many have received formal higher education, many others have never been exposed to any kind of formal education and are still illiterate.

            This paper intends to examine whether the Sudanese in the diaspora are going to participate in this election or not. If they are to participate, through which measures can they secure their participation? How are these would-be voters going to register; are they going to register as one constituency or in their respective places of birth? What modes of participation will be followed? Will it be through direct ballot in one center or by the internet. Will absentee voters mail in their votes as absentee voters? Who will be eligible to vote? What kind of documentation will be needed? What, ultimately, will be the cost of this process and who will pay?

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Presenter: Carol Berger

Affiliation: University of Oxford

Presentation Title: "Bringing God to the Trenches: The SPLA's Evolving Relationship

with the Church."

Abstract:

       In the early years of the civil war, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) had an often conflicted relationship with the church. Then allied with the Socialist East bloc, the guerrilla army downplayed religious faith. There were also confrontations between the SPLA and senior religious figures over the SPLA's mistreatment of southern Sudanese civilians and allegations of corruption and brutality within its own ranks. In the latter years of the war, however, some SPLA veterans worked to "bring God to the trenches." Three years after the signing of the CPA, the SPLA has moved closer to the region's Christian establishment, in part to strengthen its support among the disparate peoples of southern Sudan. In my paper, I will discuss the changing relationship of the SPLA and the church, focusing on the ways in which the SPLA has alternatively sought to subordinate religious forces and to receive sanction from the church.

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Presenter: Stephanie Beswick

Affiliation: Ball State University

Presentation Title: South Sudanese Violence and Resistance in the 19th-Century Slave Trading Era

Abstract:

            This presentation forms part of a larger monograph concerning slavery, slave raids and South Sudanese resistance during the nineteenth-century slave raiding/trading era. In past presentations I have covered intra-South Sudanese slaving systems during the pre-colonial era among the Shilluk, Dinka, Azande and Bari. This paper will cover the era of intra-Southern wars and resistance to external slave raiders during the nineteenth-century Turco-Egyptian colonial period. Much of this research is based on oral histories collected during field research in South Sudan (1996-7) and Kenya during the time of the recent civil war as well as field research in 2006 in Juba, Rumbek and Malakal.

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Presenter: Megan Borsuk

Affiliation: California Institute of Integral Studies

Presentation Title: Sudan: Violence in Response to Structural Violence

Abstract:

            I wish to discuss the impact of colonialism on Sudan's violent history and its residual effects in the present. Violence in Sudan should not be reduced to culture, ecology, politics, religion, or ethnicity. We must deconstruct the structures that (re)produce and hold in place violence. The British-Egyptian colonial regimes fractured Sudan into geo-political borders which have caused uneven and unjust development throughout Sudan. The constructed borders helped build a powerful class of Northern Sudanese. The dominant class reproduced a government modeled after the colonial nation-state to gain independence. The underlying foundations to the colonial nation-state are a will to conform and control the masses. Sudan's independent government inherited these critical aspects of governance. As a result, Sudan's history is fraught with violence and resistance. I will draw from the discourses of Michel Foucault and Edward Said to analyze the fundamental ideologies of the dominant modern nation-state. I will use these thinkers to analyze how the modern state produces and interacts with state-subjects. How does the reproduction of the modern nation-state in Sudan produce subjects who are alienated and exploited? Is the violence a response to the structural alienation and exploitation implemented through the modern nation-state?

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Presenter: Derek Catsam

Affiliation: University of Texas at the Permian Basin, Odessa

Presentation Title: "Never Again," Again: Sudan and the Darfur Crisis, A Review Essay

Abstract:

            The pattern is relentless, bleak, frustrating, and odiously predictable. The leadership of Sudan and its murderous minions are brazen and cynical. The rest of the world is feckless. Sudan oversteps, the world criticizes, hints of ramifications to come. Sudan backs off just long enough for the goldfish-length attention span of the western powers to turn their attentions elsewhere. And the Sudan returns almost immediately to its cruel and rapacious ways. This essay will utilize as its foundation a series of recent books on the Darfur crisis by a range of authors, including Gerard Prunier, M. W. Daly, Brian Steidle and Gretchen Stiedle Wallace, Eric Reeves, Alex de Waal and Julie Flint and others to assess the history, current situation, and possible future of Darfur.  I am not an historian of Darfur. My work is on race and politics in the United State and South Africa and I teach modern Africa, but as someone who writes about contemporary African affairs I have taken an interest in the Sudan and have been asked to write this essay for Democritiya, a British politics journal. I would like to utilize the Sudan Studies Association meeting to present my ideas, which are geared toward an educated lay audience, to specialists.

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Presenter: Sacha Chambers

Affiliation: Nova Southeastern University

Presentation Title: “The Impact of Women on the Peace Negotiations in Sudan”

Abstract:

In modern times, we have increasingly witnessed the importance of women at the peace table.   Women are often more predisposed to be natural peace advocates and envoys.  Their awareness of such qualities serves as passion enablers for other women to emulate on the road to peace.   The passion is no different for the women in Sudan.

The innovative UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on “Women, Peace and Security,” mandated that women participate in the peace process.  Despite the mandate, Sudanese women have been consistently sidelined in the peace process in their country.  However, they have still made their mark.

            Sudanese women have endured many years of violations of their human rights and they continue to do so.  Nevertheless, their participation in the peace-building in Sudan is critical for the future of the country.  The Darfur Peace Agreement, which was signed on May 5, 2006, did not achieve peace and in certain respects it actually heightened the conflict. While Sudanese women played hardly any role in the peace negotiations process of the Darfur Peace Agreement, their contributions to peace building in Sudan is paramount.

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Presenter: Ayok Chol

Affiliation: Justice, Barrister & Solicitor, Juba, Southern Sudan

Presentation Title: Implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement Pacta Sunt Servanda

Abstract:

            The conflict in the Sudan is not only a protracted one lasting over one thousand years, it is seen by scholars as the most vicious in terms of human and resources destruction. The last organization to resist was the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army/Movement. This group concluded a peace agreement referred to as supra with the Islamic fundamentalist forces who called themselves the National Congress Party (NCP). This agreement was facilitated by various groups including the United Nations Security Council. It is therefore to be assumed that the parties to the agreement will implement it pacta sunt servanda. The paper will seek to provide a balance-sheet on how the two parties and other parties are implementing this agreement. Has the SPLA followed the terms of their agreement? Was it right for the SPLA to withdraw its participation in the government? Did the NCP abide by their obligations? Is the NCP willing to concede sovereignty to Southern Sudan? Did third parties who promised to assist the South fulfill their promises? What will the NCP do if the South votes for independence? The author knows that over ninety percent of Southern Sudan will vote for independence and will offer suggestions as to what actions Southerners should take to ensure a peaceful post-referendum period. The key to actions that need to be taken now include a concerted effort to unite Southerners and for them to develop good intra-southern relations. Asset transfers between the north and the south need to be addressed. Northerners and Southerners who wish to take on the nationality of where they are currently settled should be guaranteed their fundamental freedoms.

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Presenter: Carla Nichelle Daughtry

Presentation Title: The Idea of a “New Sudan” Among a New Sudanese Diaspora: A Proposal for Research Among Sudanese Immigrants in the Midwestern United States

Affiliation: Lawrence University

Abstract:

In the wake of the fragile peace accords established since the summer of 2004, many Sudanese opt not to or are unable to repatriate to Sudan and have continued to live in what were asylum countries (such as Egypt) or third-country resettlement locations (such as Canada, the United States, or Australia).   This is in part because, lacking economic resources and political power, they find they will need much more than “offical peace” in order to return and rebuild a New Sudan.   There are also contestations over just what is the New Sudan in cultural, economic, political and ethnic terms.  This presentation proposes interview-based research that explores Sudanese refugee and immigrant perspectives on challenges facing the “New Sudan,” and their own transnational and diasporic identity vis a vis their Sudanese homeland. The presentation will feature one ethnographic interview in which these issues emerge and inspire further cultural anthropology research.

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Presenter: Scott Edwards

Presentation Title: The Double-Edge of Advocacy: Effects of Human Rights NGOs on the Prospects for Peace in Darfur

Affiliation: Amnesty International

Abstract:

            What effect has the human rights advocacy campaigns related to Darfur had on the ground? On the one hand, activity by groups such as the "Save Darfur Coalition" and other more generally focused NGOs has brought immense attention to the human tragedy in Darfur. This activity--while driven by laudable principles and convictions--may have complicated the political landscape by entrenching armed opposition group leaders and creating the false impression that the international community was soon to intervene. In this paper, the author explores the various advocacy strategies of human rights NGOs working on Darfur, and details the positive outcomes of those strategies, as well as the pernicious unintended consequences. The conclusions about the role of such NGOs with regard to Darfur offer important considerations for NGO advocacy work in general, and future work on Darfur in particular.

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Presenter: Mousa M. Elbasha

Affiliation: Puebla, Mexico

Presentation Title: The Root Causes of the Sudanese Problem

Abstract:

            Nation building in pluralistic societies includes equitable sharing of power and wealth, broad-based stimulation of economic and social development, promotion and utilization of democratic practices, establishment of a national identity and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Sudan faced these challenges in 1956 and still confronts them today.

            Sudan is comprised of many different tribal communities with no effective integration. Tribal affiliation and regionalism prevail over any nascent consciousness of Sudanese national identity. Inevitably, regional political groups have arisen espousing secession to achieve their political goals while trashing the entire concept of national unity.

            To resolve Sudan's core problems, the majority of Sudanese must develop an appreciation of national unity and a feeling of national identity. Open dialogue bridging regional and tribal boundaries is essential to mutual understanding and trust but will not suffice to bring lasting peace and prosperity. All those in positions of political, military or religious authority must work to heal the wounds of this torn and divided country cooperatively building upon its natural and human resources to forge a strong and united nation, democratic in principle and practice, wherein all Sudanese enjoy equal and unrestricted access to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

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Presenter: Ahmed E. Elbashir

Affiliation: Head of Department of Europe, the Americas and International Organizations, Council for International People’s Friendship (CIPF)

Presentation Title: The Impact of Foreign Military and Civilian Presence on the Peace Process in Sudan

 
Abstact:

          The Sudanese are divided over the impact of the heavy international presence in the Sudan related to the implementation of the peace agreements and the culture of peace.  They are equally concerned about the presence of large numbers of refugees and undocumented persons from neighboring countries  My paper deals with this highly sensitive and complicated subject.  Most of the material comes from the workshop organized on March 24-26, 2008 by the National Assembly with heavy presence of the Assembly's diversified membership.  The Conference has been widely covered by both Arabic and English newspapers.  I intend to conduct interviews with politicians and academics.

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Presenter: Abubakr Elnoor

Affiliation: Nova Southeastern University

Presentation Title: Crimes Against Humanity, Rebel Divisions and Genocide in Darfur

Abstract:

      Lord Cromer said,” On no account had a greater amount of ingenuity to be exercised in effecting an apparent reconciliation by a pardonable fiction between the facts as they existed and the facts as they were supposed to exist”(Khalid 2003:3). 

      Darfur is a geopolitical frontier and the largest state in Sudan. In the early years of the twenty –first century, Darfur has suffered from famine, pestilence, death, and war. Throughout history Darfur was very rich of hospitalization, unity, solidarity, and peace; it had never been a problem of coexistence between Arab and non –Arab before 1983, when prime minister Al –Saddig Al –Mahddi came to power through an impartial election(Iyob & Khadiagagla 2006:133). Darfurians, historically, used to live together, sharing all resources regardless of race, occupation, or any other factors. But after 1983, things have changed, and animosity between tribes has reached horrible levels.

     Prime minister Al –Saddiq Al –Mahddi in 1983 formed the so –called “Arab Gathering” to relocate all wandering nomads of Darfur on Fur and other domestic tribes’ land. Also, he ensured the Darfurians’ loyalty by deceiving and repressing them with his arms such as Janjaweed. The assimilation in Sudan of Arab –Islamic culture was the signal achievement of the two great African kingdoms of Fur and Funj which had been fighting for their existence until the late twentieth century.

     Today, Darfur is lying under several crises due to a systematic marginalization exercised by the central government of Sudan and its allies. According to United Nations and other international organizations, 300,000 people have been killed since 2003 when Darfurian rebels confronted with Khartoum. Approximately 2.5 million people either displaced or sought a refuge in the neighboring countries such as Chad. Hundreds of thousands of women have been raped during this short period of time which indicates the atrocity of the central government towards its civilians. Rape is a new weapon used excessively in Darfur by the central government to change Darfur’s demography.

     This paper will examine and address how the Sudanese government is responsible for all crimes against humanity which have been committed in Darfur, and its refusal to cooperate with humanitarian organizations. Additionally, we will talk about the Janjaweed? Where does the militia come from? Also, the paper examines how the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) caused the situation in Darfur to scramble.

    We will also touch upon how the Darfurian rebel divisions attributed to the Darfurians’ endurance and strengthened Khartoum. Why did the United Nations turn a blind eye towards the atrocity in Darfur after a five –year period good outstanding?

     Finally, the paper will compare the genocide in Rwanda, with the genocide in Darfur, and how the United States refused to consider what happened in Rwanda as genocide but considered Darfur’s atrocity as genocide. And to what extent are terminologies and definitions important to motivate countries or international organizations to act according to their moral and legal responsibilities?

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Presenter: Maisha Elonai

Affiliation: University of Pennsylvania

Presentation Title: Traditional Notions of Communal Property Versus Ownership Rights in Southern Sudanese Cities

Abstract:

            Traditional notions of communal property, rapidly expanding populations resulting from resettlement, and underdeveloped waste and infrastructure management have complicated land use and ownership rights in southern Sudanese cities. As the South seeks to stabilize itself, especially in preparation for the coming referendum, the government would be wise to consider legislation that will foster a comprehensive land management system -- for health, economic and social reasons, as well as basic responsibility to its people.

            Certain fundamental elements of property regulation in the United States, such as title registration, zoning, eminent domain, and exactions could potentially be adapted to resolve land conflicts and health hazards in Sudan. This paper will rely on reports such as the Sudan Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment, recently released by the United Nations Environmental Programme, in order to compare property management in the United States and Sudan, and to describe how new legislation might be implemented to benefit capacity building in the South.

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Presenter: Elsadig Elsheikh

Affiliation: School for International Training, Brattleboro, VT

Presentation Title: The 3Rs and the CPA in Sudan

Abstract:

            For a number of years Sudan has been a scene of violent clashes and political unrest. Although today's conflict in Darfur is considered one of the worst humanitarian crises, this conflict, however, cannot be understood without careful examination of the previous civil wars. This paper examines the implications of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that was signed in 2005 between the government of Sudan (GOS) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). In addition, I will specifically focus on the process of Reconciliation, Reconstruction, and Resolution (3Rs) of the CPA and its negative implications in the ongoing conflict of the Darfur region. The CPA lacks the understanding of the real causes of the violence in Darfur which is an extension of the policy of marginalization by the center toward its peripheries. This paper argues that the conflict is not an isolated phenomenon but one deeply rooted in the political economy of the hegemonic nature of the State and its unequal regional development policies in the last fifty years. The latter have greatly contributed to the use of violence as the sole means of solving such issues as development, identity, and representation in Sudan. This paper also offers modest recommendations for the crisis of Darfur and Sudan as a whole in restoring lasting peace.

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Presenter: Randall Fegley

Affiliation: Penn State University, Reading

Presentation Title: Re-division Reconsidered

Abstract:

            Sudan's sub-national boundaries have seen many changes over the past century. With the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, much attention has been given to the fixing of borders, i.e. the South, Abyei, etc. More than ever, this is a time for reflection on the historical, cultural and political dynamics of past systems. This paper introduces the numerous geographical configurations that various regimes have developed during the Condominium era and since independence. This paper particularly concentrates on the 1980/81 regional and local reforms and the proposed 1983 re-division of the South. The "federal" states created by the Beshir regime and the sub-divisions of the South are examined to provide a context within which an analysis of existing and alternative borders can be pursued beyond the politically-charged discussions of the past.

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Presenter: Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban

Affiliation: Rhode Island College

Presentation Title: Shari'a and Islamism: Has Sudan Entered a Post-Islamist Era?

PANEL TITLE: The Fate of the Relationship Between Religion and Politics After the Signing of the CPA

Abstract:

            Sudan was the only African state to apply Shari'a comprehensively as a national law and it is well-known to have precipitated its second period of civil war after 1983. The historical Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) officially withdrew Shari'a as state law in Sudan and a "one country--two systems" -- Shari'a in the north and secularism in the south--was adopted. The disengagement of Islamism from the Sudanese state, albeit under intense internal and external pressures, raises the question of whether or not Sudan has entered a post-Islamist phase. Jallab, The First Islamist Republic (2008) in English and Ibrahim Suqqot al-Nashrua al-Hadari ("Collapse of the Civilization Project") (2003) in Arabic, have described, respectively, the "disintegration of Islamism" and have pronounced the demise of Islamism.

            Shari'a was the primary instrument of the rise of Sudan's Islamism and it should be a key barometer of its withdrawal, disintegration, or revival. Officially withdrawn from South Sudan and from non-Muslims in the capital, a case for Sudan entering a post-Islamist phase could be made. However, neither the "final status" of Shari'a nor a clear direction for national unity are certain three years after the CPA. Slow and inadequate implementation of the CPA, as well as the unresolved Darfur insurgency, make the prospect for political transformation promised by the CPA doubtful.

            Post-Islamism as an idea originated in France amid debates analyzing the past 35 years of global Islamist activism. Critical study of Sudan's Islamism is a vital part of the analysis of the future of the country, as a "new" Sudan, or two--or more--polities. One indicator of post-Islamism is the evolution toward an institutionalized Islamic state, rather than a state-imposed Islamist agenda by militarists, such as in Sudan. Assessment of the structural and institutional success of the Islamist program will be discussed in regard to Shari'a and new legal institutions developed since 2005.

            Under the auspices of a two year grant from the U.S. Institute of Peace I have researched the changing status and application of Shari'a in the "interim period," prior to scheduled national elections mandated by the CPA and to the national referendum on unity or separation of the south. Impulses toward more democratic public discourse are notable after the CPA, but nonetheless are blunted by the state security apparatus. This paper reviews the process of withdrawal of Shari'a--as well as resistance to this and the development of parallel legal institutions by the Government of South Sudan. The paper invites discussion and debate of the post-CPA period as "post-Islamist," or as a new, perhaps, more mature stage of Sudan's continuing Islamism, now in its 25th year.

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Presenter: Maria Gabrielsen

Affiliation: Paris, Sciences Po-CERI

Presentation Title: Internationalization of the Conflicts in Sudan: A Resource or a Constraint for Making Peace?

Abstract:

            How can we explain that some initiatives of internationalizing internal conflicts lead to the signing of sustainable peace agreements, while others only generate negative impacts on the conflict and even contribute to worsening them? The conflict in Southern Sudan went through a long term low-level internationalization, with international NGO's and foreign diplomats involved over many years. Yet it did not create sufficient momentum to gather the parties around a common peace agreement. Once a small group of capable and willing states became involved, however, and decided to support the regional organization of IGAD in their peace initiatives, an agreement was soon on the table. In Darfur, however, calls for the international community to react and intervene to solve the conflict have been incessant over the past few years. A large and relatively efficient humanitarian operation has been set up. On the political level, however, the international efforts to set up peace talks seem to have created more internal dissent and fragmentation than reconciliation and progress towards peace. Meanwhile, the Eastern Sudan has received very little international attention and humanitarian help. The Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement, on the other hand, was negotiated and signed in 2006.

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Presenter: Datejie Green

Affiliation: York University

Presentation Title: Film: "Acts of Love - The Struggle for Sudan" (Women and the CPA)

Abstract: "Acts of Love" bears witness to the dawn of peace in war-ravaged southern Sudan through the stories of women who played a critical role in sewing the seeds of unity and dialogue. Their words speak to the people's hope and love for the land and the alluring promise of freedom and prosperity following 50 years of civil war. This film was shot in Kenya and South Sudan in the weeks following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement on January 9, 2005. It explores everyday life, as it was from survival to the perpetual tasks of communicating and mobilizing for justice and peace. Unique and historic events, including political meetings and celebrations coalesce with interviews to reveal a moment of precarious yet unprecedented possibility.

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Presenter: Mohamed Ibrahim (Mohamed Elgadi)

Affiliation: Amherst Progressive Muslims

Presentation Title: Teaching Islam for Sudanese-American Students: A Human Rights-Integrated Curriculum [Presentation One]

Abstract:

            Since the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 and the fact that numbers of Sudanese Americans were found to be involved, many Sudanese expressed surprise about such violent behavior. However, the roots and causes were evident in several mosques in Brooklyn, New York, where many of these Sudanese lived. Messages of hate messages against non-Muslims were publicly aired from the loudspeakers and amplifiers of mosque minarets during Friday sermons. In 2006, another cell of young Canadian Muslims was infiltrated before carrying out a massive bombing attack in southern Ontario. Those involved were Western homegrown "Jihadists" and were not imported from Khartoum, Waziristan, or Kandahar.

            This paper is an attempt to explore and evaluate the curriculum that has been used to teach the subject of Islamic Studies in the informal weekend school of the Sudanese community in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The goal of this evaluation is to explore whether this curriculum addresses contemporary Islamic issues vis-a-vis the community needs in light of difficulties that face Muslims, and in particular immigrant ones, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This study adopts a different concept in Advocacy Evaluation, and the methodology in use is in-depth qualitative evaluation interviews that involve parents, teachers, and students.

            A natural follow-up to this study would be a human rights-focused curriculum that addresses the concerns of radicalization and indoctrination that has hijacked Islam, which has resulted in the forced migration of most of the Sudanese-Americans from their homeland of Sudan.

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Presenter: Khalid Kodi

Affiliation: Boston College/Massachusetts College of Art and Design

Presentation Title:  Sudan’s Wars: Peace and Wars

Abstract:

            This is an art work presentation, preceded by introductory remarks by Khalid Kodi and taking place alongside the conference reception on Friday evening.

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Presenter: Cherry Leonardi

Affiliation: Durham University

Presentation Title: Spiritual Power, Political Power and Peace-Making in the "New" Southern Sudan

Abstract:

            This paper discusses the historical and contemporary roles of religious leaders in Southern Sudan. Political and military leaders in the south have increasingly sought legitimacy through both the Christian churches and traditional religious leaders like spearmasters and rainmakers. Civilians, on the other hand, uphold spiritual and supernatural powers as counterbalancing forces against the military. In some regional and local conflicts, religious leaders have spoken out against government and army complicity, and have been prominent in peacemaking efforts. Spiritual authority continues to play a key part in defining overlapping moral communities, but is less prominent in local judicial processes nowadays than the more immediate, everyday authority of chiefs. Further, while churches have grown in size and variety, they have also been tainted by accusations of corruption, and their relationship to development, foreign missionaries; the "book" links them to 'the government' in the eyes or rural communities. Religious authority thus continues to reflect something of a rural-urban divide as well as a certain kind of ambivalent status due to the fact that they play an intermediary role between people and either government or god.

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Presenter: Richard Lobban

Affiliation: Rhode Island College

Presentation Title: Iron Working in Meroe: The Story Continues

Abstract:

            Continuing from the 2007 Sudan Studies Association Conference presentation, this panel should have results of chemical analysis of finished iron products from Meroe to be compared with slag and ore from the same region. The panel will also present a film of traditional production in West Africa that uses techniques that are presumed to be similar to those used at Meroe. In short, we hope to deepen and concretize the study of ancient iron production in Nubia in specific and the Sudan in general.

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Presenter: David Kueth Thiyng Luk

Affiliation: National Consultant, Secretary for Peace and Political Affairs, Council for International People’s Friendship (CIPF)

Presentation Title: The Sudanese and International Community Efforts in Resolving Sudan Civil Conflicts

Abstract: 

          Sudan has experienced civil conflicts before and after independence in 1956.  These factors have hindered prospective measures that the new state has to pursue. However, my paper's contribution will highlight the efforts of Sudanese people as well as the international community in resolving the conflict(s).

          The paper shall state the modalities of transforming the peace agreement(s) into common man/woman life.  The paper will also focus on the impact of every accord at the respective areas in Sudan prospectively.

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Presenter: Baqie Badawi Muhammad

Affiliation: Indiana University

Presentation Title: "Darfur Crisis and Women Artists: The Invention of Beauty during Times of Hardship"

Abstract:

      Women in Darfur, and in western Sudan in general, and women artists in particular, have responded with stamina as they faced hardship. Throughout the history of the region, they played significant roles in political and socio-economic life. Muslim travelers were astonished by the freedom accorded to the royal women within the Darfur sultanate. Broadly speaking, it may be argued that women in Darfur have remarkably distinguished themselves from the rest of the Sudanese Muslim women in terms of production skills and conducts. Despite common notions concerning Muslim women and seclusion, Darfurian women take on both domestic and production roles. They have shared a number of jobs designated elsewhere as men's profession: they work as farmers, butchers, as well as building constructors. Women in Darfur assert themselves vigorously in the social and economic arenas.

      The continuous drought cycles, which started in the 1970s, created an enormous pressure on Darfurian people. Once fertile land was transformed into an enormous desert; people faced the inescapable reality of food shortage, starvation and famine. Consequent governments did nothing to ease the situation or to provide a humane and dignified condition for the average citizen in Darfur. This dreadful situation forced a number of Darfurians to leave their own land for other places in the Sudan to survive the hardship. This situation raises fundamental issues concerning injustice and inequality in the region, which inevitably led to the horrible situation in Darfur today.

      During the height of famine in the 1980s, Darfurian women artists faced the challenge and took the initiative to change the function of basketry from a utilitarian to a decorative form by inventing new designs, patterns and shapes in order to create a marketable product that could save their families from starvation. Basket-weaving was and still is the leading art product in Darfur, especially in rural areas. Manawashai, Marsheng, Juruf and Nyala have continued to be famous centers for the mass production of basket-making.

      Currently, in fighting the rebels, the Sudanese government forces burned and destroyed a number of these basket-making centers. The villagers took refuge in urban centers or ended up in refugee camps. In response to the politics of the current Islamic régime and the socio-economic situation, Darfurian women artists continued to create new patterns in basketry as a copying strategy to face hardship times. Careful analysis of basket designs in Darfur reveals that the patterns are accurately documented pieces of history that depict the horror of famine, as well as record other social and political events. This highlights the Darfurian women artists' creativity for whom the invention of beauty in desperate times is an affirmation of faith, an act of self-realization, and an assertion of committed artists.

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Presenter: Margaret Otto

Affiliation: Berlin

Presentation Title: Perspectives for Peace: Gender-Specific Views from Sudan 2006

Abstract:

            This report deals with the question of equal participation of women in Sudan in developing their society after the end of the civil war. It shows which perspectives are anticipated and visible for the phase of peace consolidation. The paper is based on interviews with ten Sudanese female political activists.

            The conceptual frame for the interviews is an assumption taken from peace and conflict studies: sustainable peace keeping effort requires the participation of everyone in the country, women in particular. To achieve a consolidation of peace, four dilemmas have to be addressed: participation, security, forgiveness and social justice.

            All the interviews showed that equal participation of women confronts male-based interests. This holds true for example in certain fields of legislation. Currently women do not have the right of landownership although the dominant agrarian structure in Sudan recognizes that most agricultural work is done by women. Family law is equally constricting women's decision-making spaces. Men have far reaching control over large parts of family and social life. The women see this is in stark contrast to their demand for gender democracy, which - as they are aware - is anchored in the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They point out that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement bases itself on the authority of the UN-declaration for peace-keeping efforts in the Sudan.

            The gender-specific approach made cultural-specific aspects visible that would not have emerged otherwise. This is especially true for the question of security. For example, a widely accepted definition of what is to be understood by violence and its description by civil law are still to be constructed. Different cultural traditions and norms contain different gender-specific nuances in this respect. Peacekeeping needs to address and limit civil violence against women on the basis of specific security standards.

            In the Sudan specific social abilities in the process of reconciliation and forgiveness are ascribed to women, as they are often assigned to mediate in conflict. Yet, the women interviewed understand these processes as imminently political, requiring the participation of society at large and being independent of the gender question. They consider sustainable peacekeeping efforts need a broad willingness for reconciliation and forgiveness across gender and cultural divides. The recognition of equal positions in social justice for men and women seems to require a far-reaching modernization of many areas of Sudanese society, a process which in itself can harbor conflicts; for example, the question of women's participation and the willingness to allow their presence in public. For peacekeeping activities in this area the experience of earlier Sudanese women's movements could be of value.

            All interviewees greatly emphasized the common ground for all Sudanese women, however, stressing the considerable diversity between the situation in northern, southern, eastern, and western Sudan. Historical development, political and social structures and economic conditions vary greatly. A continued joint action by women after the peace agreement can only be successful if the political basis for such joint efforts is created.

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Presenter: Scopas Poggo

Affiliation: Ohio State University

Presentation Title: The Round Table Conference of 1965 in Khartoum: The Southern Sudanese Perspective

Abstract:

          My paper provides a critical examination of the first meaningful conference (after Sudan’s independence) between the South and the North to discuss federal status for the people of Southern Sudan. This meeting brought together Southern politicians within (members of the Southern Front and William Deng’s SANU-Inside) and Aggrey Jaden’s SANU-Outside) to discuss federal status or the possibility of a local autonomy for the South. Foreign observers came from African countries south of the Sahara that included Uganda, Ghana, and Nigeria. It is important to note that the care-taker government of Sirr al-Khattim hosted this conference. The participants in the conference (North and South) were frank in their discussions, and they succeeded in producing a blueprint that would guide both parties in the implementation of the resolutions that were passed. To be sure, the Round Table Conference blueprint provided the foundation for the Addis Ababa peace initiative and peace talks in the period 1969-1972. Much of the literature on this conference lacks the Southern perspective, but I have obtained new information that pertains to that conference.

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Presenter: Assad Salih

Affiliation: Cairo, Egypt

Presentation Title: The Darfur Peace Agreement: Human Rights, Future Challenges and a Guide for Other Peace Agreements in Sudan

Abstract:

            This paper will start by examining the main causes of the current conflict in Darfur, tracking its development until the signature of the peace agreement that has come to be known as the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) which is the cornerstone of the peace process in Darfur. In relation to bringing peace and settling the current conflict in Darfur, the paper will examine the actual effect of the DPA on the peace process and its ability to stand expected future challenges. The DPA's section that contains provisions addressing human rights will also be examined explicitly vis-a-vis its effect of protecting the rights of Darfur's Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), both now as well as in the future. I will also address human rights generally in Sudan when the conflict is settled. In addition the paper will tackle the contribution of the DPA's shaping of a future peace in Sudan along with other signed peace agreements. Lastly, the role of Darfuri-Darfuri dialogue as a local initiative and its contribution as a possible precedent for other parts of Sudan will also be addressed.

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Presenter: Noah Salomon

Affiliation: University of Chicago

Presentation Title: Rethinking Islamic Politics in “Post-Peace” Sudan: The Salafi Critique of Islamism

Abstract:

The failure of the ruling Islamist vanguard (i.e. the NIF and its offshoots) to maintain control of the program of social and religious reform that they initiated, coupled with the relative degree of political freedom afforded by the signing of the CPA (January 2005), has brought criticisms of the Islamist vision of Islamic politics to the fore.  While the critique of the Islamist project waged by liberals and secularists was to be expected, one of the more nuanced and interesting voices of opposition is that of Salafi organizations.  A certain trend within the popular Salafi group Ansaar as-Sunna has recently been voicing its long-standing distaste with the political philosophy of Muslim Brotherhood inspired Islamism, particularly due to the role Islamists see for the state as a means to the Islamization of society.  My paper will explore the Salafi critique of Islamism, paying particular attention to how they grapple with the problem of intra-Islamic religious difference (al-ikhtilaaf) as an obstacle or opportunity for effective political organizing.

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Presenter: Thomas Schmidinger

Affiliation: University of Vienna (Political Science)

Presentation Title: Sudan -- a Failing State?

Abstract:

            The failure of states and the establishment of terrorist groups and warlords is one of the most urgent problems in Sudan and the whole region. The objective of my paper is not only to analyze this process in Sudan, but also to offer a theoretic perspective on these developments, from a political science and Marxist theoretical perspective. Based on the theory of Nicos Poulantzas, that state is a crystallization of social relations, Sudan will be analyzed as an example of a failing state by disintegration of its social relations.

            The "Islamic" neoliberalism, which disassembles the public sector on behalf of the profit of regime-supporters, disassembles the state itself and reduces the state on its repressive aspects. The disintegration of Sudan, especially on its periphery is a result of the political and economic marginalization of these peripheric regions and the inability of an authoritarian regime to integrate political, social, ethnic and religious minorities into a common state.

            The resulting conflict is not only fought by regular troops but mainly by non-state actors; guerrilla movements or the pr-governmental private militias like the Janjaweed or the Merowe-Dam-militias that have led to a weakening of statehood.

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Presenter: Ulrike Schultz

Affiliation: Free University of Berlin, Institute of Sociology

Presentation Title: "Home Coming" or "Staying On": Negotiating Belonging After the CPA: The Case of Bari Youth in Khartoum/Sudan

Abstract:

            The Three Towns (Omdurman, Khartoum and Khartoum North) are today a multiethnic and multinational eight million metropolis. A considerable part of the population consists of migrants and IDPs (internally displaced people) from Southern Sudan. After the signing of the CPA the return of all Southern Sudanese to their home areas has been on the political agenda of the GoS and the SPLM but is also official policy of most of the ethnic communities and the NGOs. However, many migrants and IDPs are reluctant to go back to their unknown homes in Southern Sudan. The decision about "home coming" or "staying on" depends not only on the opportunities and perspectives in the respective home areas but also on questions of belonging and identity. During the negotiation process the factors of IDPs returning with their different cross cutting identities and notions of belonging became visible. Furthermore it has become necessary to negotiate new and different categories such as what it means to be a "Bari," a "Southerner," a woman of youth. This paper explores the negotiation of belonging and differing identities using the case of Bari youths who are brought up in Khartoum and are challenged by the opportunity to go "home." Research was conducted in the Three Towns from January 2007 to April 2007 and will be followed up from February to April 2008.

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Presenter: Jay Spaulding

Affiliation: Kean University

Presentation Title: The Iron King: The Iron Industry of Precolonial Nubian Kordofan

Abstract:

            This study uses the infrequently-cited account of Joseph von Russegger to extend previous understandings of pre-colonial Kordofanian ironworking. The present author's recent work on the forgotten pre-colonial Nubian community of northern and central Kordofan allows the construction of a new historical context for the technical data recovered from diverse primary sources.

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Presenter: Lako Tongun

Affiliation: Pitzer College

Presentation Title: The Political Economy of "Internal Wars," Identities and Genocides: An Example of Sudan's Darfur

Abstract:

            Some scholars (including Sudanists) and keen observers of the "internal wars," in the Sudan have made rather strident but often confused objections to the use of identities which distinguish the victims and the perpetrators in the Darfur and South Sudan genocides. In the former case the disagreement is over the use of Africans (sedentary farmers) as victims and Arabs (the NIF regime and the "janjaweed" from the nomadic groups) as the perpetrators. While in the latter case the objection is to the usual world press refrain: Black Africans-Christians-Animists in the South as victims and Arabs-Muslims in the north as the perpetrators. Part of the confused reasons for objections to the above identities have to do apparently with: 1) attempts to essentialize, reify, and view these identities as if they were fixed and unchangeable even in the face of certain prevailing conditions and 2) failure to come up with alternative identities. The latter issue is a failure which, in the final analysis, tends to lead to a sort of intellectual schizophrenia, especially in comparison to other cases. For example, rejecting (using quotations) and at the same time using them (abandoning quotations) in their discussions and 3) political objectives and an apparent intellectual rent-seeking behavior, namely, rendering support to the position of the perpetrators, wittingly or unwittingly, and to ingratiate as well as to rent one's expertise for real and/or psychic income and certain privileges in the short or long run.

            The purpose of this paper is three fold: 1) to seek theoretical explanations and understanding of what happens to established or apparent identities in periods of internal wars of attrition, especially when resource control and the procurement and retention of dominant hegemonic power are involved; 2) to use comparative and political economic analysis that de-essentializes identities, but one that looks at the relations between latent and apparent identities when a process of fission and fusion of identities seems to occur in many cases (and Sudan is no exception) and 3) to conclude that identities are useful in explaining and understanding internal wars of genocide, e.g. Rwanda, when they established the criminality of the perpetrators who enjoyed various asymmetries in the means of mass killings (e.g. military preponderance and weapons that lead to the massification of killings, i.e. loss of the individuality of each victim, but one in which the victims are amorphous, nameless, anonymous), the ability of the perpetrators to protect their unarmed civilians contra those of their opponents who become sitting ducks and victims of genocide. In such a situation, identities, latent and apparent, provide the perverted ideological justification for the crime of genocide. In the final analysis it is the criminality of genocide that matters. Identities (which are real or imagined self or group definitions) are useful mainly for distinguishing the victims and the perpetrators of genocide.

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Presenter: Nyambura Wambugu

Affiliation: University of Leeds

Presentation Title: Democratising the SPLA "The Transition from a Rebel Movement to a Government"

Abstract:

            This presentation will look at the relationship between democratization and peace building in the context of post conflict reconstruction. I will demonstrate that democratisation is vital if countries emerging from conflict are to maintain the peace and build on it. This study will look at the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) as a case study the SPLA/M became the government of Southern Sudan following the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between them and the government of Sudan on the 9th of January 2005 ending 21 years of civil war. This paper will argue that the lack of home-grown democracy is one of the biggest threats to peace building in countries emerging from war. It will also look at the challenges of "crafting institutions" and critically examine the process of building democratic institutions in southern Sudan and post conflict countries.

            This paper will also cut across the conference theme: "Sudan's Wars and Peace Agreements" particularly in relation to the CPA and southern Sudan. It will argue that for the SPLA to successfully make the transition from a liberation army into a political movement the SPLM it will have to holistically embrace democracy. This will require the creation of opportunities for greater citizen participation at the local and regional level; it will require a conscious effort on the part of the SPLA/M to provide linkages between modern democratic institutions and traditional forms of authority so as not to alienate the greater number of its population and in particular ex-combatants. At the same time, the SPLA/M will have to support the creation of other political parties not only to legitimize their hold of power in southern Sudan but also given the key role parties play in aggregating interests and in linking citizens and political institutions particularly ahead of the 2011 referendum on secession.

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Presenter: Todd David Whitmore

Affiliation: University of Notre Dame

Presentation Title: Angela's Wars: The Necessity of a Sudan/Uganda Linkage for Peace

Abstract: When I was in Magwi, South Sudan last May (2007) the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels were making their way east from Owiny-ki-Bul to Ri-Kwangba gathering points, as agreed to in the talks between the LRA and the Ugandan government. About two hundred Lotuku people, including "Angela," who was bent with malnutrition, set up a tent camp at the edge of town after being chased from the mountains by members of the LRA. The Lotuku presence in Magwi was the result of two interlocking conflicts. In this paper, I will draw upon my fieldwork in Southern Sudan and Northern Uganda to argue that any consideration of long-term peace must take into account regional considerations. Already, the 2005 North-South agreement in Sudan has played a key role in bringing the LRA to the bargaining table with the Ugandan government. Conversely, the unraveling of peace talks or agreements with regard to either country would have implications for both. An unstable South Sudan could provide new space for Ugandan rebel groups, perhaps supported by Khartoum, to encamp. Failure of peace talks between the LRA and the Ugandan government, a real prospect since the death of LRA second-in-command Vincent Otti, leaves unstable elements of the LRA in or near South Sudan, ready for utilization by the Khartoum government again should the North-South agreement fail. Consideration of the North-South tensions, therefore, needs to take into account regional tensions.

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Presenter: B. Yongo-Bure

Affiliation: Kettering University

Presentation Title: The Comprehensive Peace Agreement: Its Critics and Proponents

Abstract:

            Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) has many critics for different reasons. Many of the critics usually ridicule it for not being comprehensive enough. Like the Addis Ababa Agreement, which was vehemently opposed by the Sudanese establishment as being a secret deal between President Nimeiri and the Southerners, the CPA is being opposed for being an agreement between two parties. Some of the critics oppose the substance of the agreement. These include aspects of the agreement such as self-determination for the South, the Abyei Boundary Commission report, power sharing, the role of religion in government in the North, the sharing of wealth from the South only but not of wealth emanating from the North, etc.

            The proponents of the agreement highlight the fact that the agreement has brought to an end one of the most vicious wars. The prevalence of peace in most parts of the South endears the peace agreement here, regardless of who brought it about. Highlighted are also the confederal arrangements between the North and the South, the provision of making unity attractive, the inclusion of international conventions on human rights, and pluralistic elections, etc.

            However, whatever the critics and proponents think, full implementation of the CPA has become a prerequisite for enduring peace and unity of Sudan. But its implementation has faced grave dangers, especially from the larger partner to the agreement, the National Islamic Front/National Congress Party (NIF/NCP). The NIF/NCP, under its council, chaired by Suwar Al Dahab, is trying to rally the leaders of the Sudanese establishment to amend the CPA. Sadiq al Mahdi calls the CPA a "blockage agreement" and wants the holding of a constitutional conference, a proposal initiated by the SPLA/M in March 1985, which Al Mahdi did not attend to when he was Prime Minister in the 1980s. Can the North amend the CPA without agreement of the South? Should the South accept any amendment to the CPA before 2011, the terminal date of the agreement? What should the South do should the Sudanese establishment decide to amend or cancel the CPA as they did to the Addis Ababa Agreement in Port Sudan in 1977? If it has become increasingly clear that making unity attractive is impossible, should the partition of Sudan occur peacefully or violently? Which option is better as the resulting countries will continue to interact through trade, grazing land, migration, and in many other aspects?

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