Sudanese American Seeks to Halt Sudan’s 15-Year Civil War With Model Peace Village There

By Joshua Azriel

Of the civil wars raging throughout Africa today, none has received as little attention in the West as that in Sudan. A brutal civil war raged there for 15 years. For the past nine years the principal protagonists have been the governing National Islamic Front regime of Omar al-Bashir, who came to power nine years ago in a military coup in the north, and John Garang of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in the south.

There are a multitude of internationally sponsored peace plans for Sudan. But as both sides talk of peace, the government in Khartoum, the nation’s capital, is actively drafting second- through fourth-year college students for military service. Therefore any successful peace initiative may have to arise from among the Sudanese citizens not involved with either of the protagonists.

Elwaleed Mousa is an engineer and a second-year graduate student in political science at the Unversity of Florida. Born in Evanston, Illinois, and raised in Khartoum, this 33-year-old’s home and heart is in Sudan. He became familiar with al-Daein, a city of 250,000 people in western Sudan, because his family has a vacation home there. Now he is working to construct in the area what he calls a “peace model village” for western Sudan, where Muslims and Christians can live together in peace made possible by sustainable development.

“Through building a village and creating a harmonious society, we can achieve any political agenda with peace and stability through development,” Mousa explains. “People in Sudan cannot yet access education, they lack shelter, have no means of transportation from their farms to nearby villages, and cannot afford medicine. The children are malnourished.”

Mousa wants to convert the village of Bawat al Khel, located 15 miles from Al-Daein and currently home to 250 families, into his peace model village. In return for outside development assistance, Bawat al Khel residents have agreed to the arrival of 300 displaced Dinka families currently residing in Nyala, a city of approximately 250,000 in western Sudan.

Members of the Dinka tribe have not been welcome in Nyala because of a lack of historical ties with the city’s residents. But the Dinka do have traditional ties with the villages of Bawat al-Khel, 900 miles from the fighting.

There are three phases to the peace model village’s development: Phase One is currently under way with the construction of a town well. Phase Two will build a water tower for the residents and a ground water tank for farm animals. Bawat al Khel’s women and children now travel two hours each way for water. The new well and water tower would eliminate this burden.

Phase Three is the development of the village itself. A literacy center, vocational center, chapel, and a common farm for growing vegetables are to be built. “I want the well to be a nucleus for a rural development program including literacy development, vocational training programs for young men and women, a common worship place for Muslims and Christians, and to establish a small farm,” Mousa stated.

A management firm in Khartoum was selected to design the village. Survey engineers will provide plans based upon the land’s natural resources and features. In doing so, they will work with the Sudanese Environmental Society from Al-Daein. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Save the Children also are supporting Mousa’s initiative.

So far, $30,000 has been raised in the United States for Phase One. Another $10,000 is needed to complete the well. In order to begin Phase Two, $40,000 will be needed to build the water tower and tank.

Mousa does not believe that the government in Khartoum will object to the village if it is kept under the auspices of NGOs.

Mohamed Khalil, who served as speaker of Sudan’s Constituent Assembly from 1986 to 1988 and also served in several Sudanese cabinet positions in the 1960s, believes that Mousa’s chances of success in the prevailing political atmosphere are slim though not impossible. “The NIF regime is now trying hard to discredit reports of slavery and other violations of basic rights. It is, therefore, conceivable that it would find it embarrassing to refuse permission for the proposed peace model village,” Khalil said.

Khalil, who now serves as vice president for social development at WorldSpace Foundation in Washington, DC, adds that “Elwaleed Mousa is very well suited to cope with such an exercise. He hails from a family that wields considerable influence, and he knows the locations and custom of the tribes of Western Sudan.”

A second critic of the government, Michael Chege, director of African Studies at the University of Florida, agrees with Khalil. He commends Mousa for his selfless plan but does not believe the government in Khartoum will allow the village to exist unless it suits that government’s own purposes.

Chege does not believe that al-Bashir’s government wants an area where Muslims and Christians can live in a cooperative setting. “If they [the government] feel the village is not a threat to the National Islamic Front government, then they might allow it for the short run, but not in the long run because the government’s goal is to Islamacize the entire country,” Chege contends.

“They might want the publicity the village would bring. In the south there are a large number of NGOs working in development programs feeding the poor, treating the sick, sheltering the homeless. The government will tolerate that.”

Even if the government gives the village its approval, Chege believes the country’s general political instability would make it difficult to bring supplies to western Sudan. He notes that a lot of relief supplies have been stolen during the 15 years of fighting.

“From audits of the United Nations and other NGOs,” Chege charges, a portion “of this relief is getting hijacked by the army and some of it is getting hijacked by the rebel groups that are fighting the Islamic government.”

He notes that the regime mainly controls the capital and the Red Sea port in the east. In some places in western Sudan, where Bawat al Khel is located, the government has been known to contract militias for security. Chege says all these isssues must be taken into consideration when planning a major infrastructure project.

For his part Mousa, who grew up in Khartoum, is confident that the assistance of NGOs will give the village the legitimacy it needs to succeed. Neither side in the fighting wants to be identified with new catastrophes such as last spring’s famine.

It was only the threat of famine that prompted both sides to abide by a cease-fire last spring so that food and medicinal supplies could be delivered to 350,000 Sudanese in Bahr el-Ghazal in the southern region of the country. In a country of approximately 28 million people, nearly 350,000 Sudanese were in danger of starvation.

Mousa believes that if Sudan is to have any type of future, it must begin with initiatives from the Sudanese people themselves, such as with his peace village.

“Ultimately, people in Sudan have to find a formula to live together peacefully regardless of religion,” Mousa explains. “By building a village and creating a harmonious society, we can achieve any political agenda with peace and stability through development, and we will create well-rounded human beings.”

Washington Report readers wishing to contribute to development of the peace model village may send their contributions to IARA–USA, P.O. Box 7084, Columbia, MO 65204-7084, tel. 1 (800) 298-1199. Their letters should specify that the donation is for the Sudan Well project.

Joshua Azriel is a reporter for mid-Florida Public Radio and a graduate student at the University of Florida.

SIDEBAR

U.S. Africa Expert Says Sudan’s African Neighbors Taking Increasing Role in Its Civil War

As civil war continues between Sudan’s predominantly Muslim government in the north and largely Christian or animist tribes in the south, the country’s African neighbors are taking sides, giving the conflict wider geopolitical implications for the region, according to Michael Chege, director of African studies at the University of Florida.

Chege says that Egypt, Sudan’s neighbor to the north, has long opposed the NIF. “Egypt has been trying very hard to build a coalition with some credible Sudanese activists from the north and south to oppose Al-Bashir’s government, but so far with little success,” Chege stated.

Chege says that the governments of Ethiopia, Uganda, Eritrea, and Rwanda all have been supporting the rebels in southern Sudan with money and arms. They are opposed to a government based strictly on Islam, and would prefer a more moderate and less ideological regime. In response, Sudan has been siding with the Laurent Kabila faction in the civil conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“The Kabila government is now opposed to the governments in Uganda, Rwanda, and probably Ethiopia and Eritrea,” Chege explains. “Though they [the Sudanese government] have no love for Kabila, it is the concept of the enemy of my enemy is now my friend. Kabila is receiving Sudanese support from Khartoum.” Chege also charges that Sudan is funding rebel groups in Uganda and Eritrea. “This makes for a highly unstable geopolitical calculation in the region.”

Chege labels the government in Khartoum a terrorist one because, he says, the NIF is an offshoot of the old Muslim Brotherhood. He describes the NIF as the military organization of President al-Bashir and Speaker of the Parliament Hassan al-Turabi.

The NIF came to power in a coup in 1989 as the previous government of Al-Saddiq al-Mahdi was close to a peaceful agreement involving autonomy and mutual religious toleration with John Garang’s forces.

One of the roots of the Sudanese conflict is the oil in the south, Chege explains. He says the Khartoum regime wants to use revenues from the oil reserves to overcome the country’s chronic financial problems. Autonomy or independence for the south, however, might lock out al-Bashir’s government from control of these reserves.

Chege states that Khartoum is spending close to one million dollars a day on the war, and that this is revenue it does not have. Cotton, a once lucrative commodity, is no longer a major crop in Sudan and, because of the civil war, the oil is not being pumped out.

“What else has Sudan got?” asks Chege. “Most of the revenue today comes from Sudanese employed in the Gulf states. Most of them work there as manual laborers. This is not the type of economy upon which one can build an Islamic revival. It’s not possible to continue this way.”

Chege believes that the real power in Khartoum in not with Al-Bashir but with Al-Turabi. In the past, Al-Turabi has stated that Islam is becoming entrenched throughout the country. Although the current government has spoken of renegotiating the constitution to provide autonomy for the south, it continues to persecute religious minorities, Chege charges. And, despite talk about peace, there has been little actual negotiating. Chege therefore believes that, despite contradictory signals from the government, Al-Turabi’s ultimate goal is to Islamicize the country.

“Is this the sign of peace? I think not,” says Chege. “This is the philosophy of Al-Turabi, so the question that ought to be asked is will the real Hassan al-Turabi please stand up?

“Is the drafting of university students for military service a sign of peace, and of a constitutional democracy that is tolerant of ethnic and religious pluralism? I think not.”

As long as the Sudanese government continues actively promoting Islam as the official religion of a state with large Christian and other minorities, Chege believes, regional tensions will continue to escalate.