Southern Independence and FEDERALISM

Earlier discussions of Federalism

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Southern Independence and FEDERALISM

 

By Opoka p'Arop Otto on Thursday, 24 February 2011 at 03:33

 

“Separate South from North now”�"1969 Hassan Al Mahjoud

By Opoka Christopher Arop

JUBA (13 Nov. 2008) �" Minister for Parliamentary Affairs in the Government of Southern Sudan Dr. Martin Elia has said that four challenges stand in the path of Southern Sudan's walk to the 2011 Referendum exercise in which its people will vote either for Separation or Unity.

 He was discussing Referendum in Southern Sudan 2011: Challenges and Opportunities at a public lecture organized by the Ministry of Presidential Affairs in a ‘fully filled’ out Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly hall on 20th October. GoSS President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar, Co-Chairman of the National Constitutional Review Commission and former President of the High Executive Council of Southern Sudan Moulana Able Alier attended the debate.

 Dr. Martin Elia who also heads an opposition political party (Southern Sudan Democratic Front) said that it is not only Southern Sudanese who are finding unity unattractive and emphasized his point with a quote from the speech of Sudan Minister of Local Government Hassan Al Mahjoud in 1969 who said:

“I believe Southern Sudan should be separated from the North now, if we don't accept separation of North and South today, the Southerners will separate from us one day, in ten or 30 years perhaps, all that I know of the South leads me to believe that those fighting for separation are not going to renounce their aim.”

He stated that the first challenge for the Southern Sudan politician is to make Southern Sudanese understand the idea of their own right to Self Determination and the implications of the 2011 exercise on the future of the region and on the history of liberation struggles. "These days am seeing that people are trying to put different interpretations into the minds of our people," he shared with the house.

“People must not be confused by Southern Sudan's right to Self Determination and national Self Determination. The Self Determination provided in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement is specific to the territory of Southern Sudan and recognized by the international community,” Dr. Martin explained.

He intimated that individuals and States must not begin to demand for their own Self Determination because "Secession provided in a referendum is a mechanism to redress the grievances of a profoundly disaffected people who can then go on to choose between unity and separation. Self Determination is not an end in itself but a means to an end. It is our challenge to accept the end, which is either separation or unity,” Dr. Martin said.

He said that when the Speaker of the national assembly in Khartoum was asked when he would table the Referendum Bill, he replied “No no, this will be done by an elected parliament,” and Dr. Martin concluded thus: “This means that he is already busy planning not to table the Referendum Bill and he is actually vigilant”.

More recently during the Council of States meetings in the hall of the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly one honorable politician stood up and said “We should not be surprised if Salva Kiir is not our President next year. We should not talk about Southern Sudan”. Dr. Martin responded: “So you can see people are already busy doing 'the good things they know best”.

The SSDF leader also issued a warning about the composition of the Election and Referendum Commissions that the GoSS President must be vigilant and guard against attempts to destroy next year's elections and the 2011 Referendum. “One of the challenges we face is the composition of the Referendum Commission. Everybody knows that if you want to rig elections and if you want to destroy a referendum, it is in the way you compose your referendum and election commissions”.

Another challenge he observed was the task of explaining the right to Self Determination to the people of Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile and others from the North who fought alongside the SPLA in their liberation struggle. “We must explain without any confusion that it is not our choice not to give them the same right of Self Determination. But that they must remain with us and protect us,” said Dr. Martin.

He said that the question of Sudan belonging to the Black people is true “but it is not the same black people in Southern Sudan today. Passports and project documents of 1922 confirmed the independent existence of Southern Sudan until it was unified with the independence of the Sud which extends from Halfa to Sinar, from Abyssinian border to Darfur. These two facts were all denied in 1947,” he added.

The third challenge is for us to accept a unity based on higher possibilities of changing the fabric of governance in the North. “To think of unity, it is only possible if we shall change clerks, accountants, office messengers, police and army, judiciary and ministry under secretaries. You may be a Minister in the North, but you will never be in control of that ministry. It is impossible. Even for the North to accept Salva Kiir as their President, a Christian who goes for mass at the Kator Catholic Church every Sunday is unimaginable. It contradicts their belief as stipulated in the Koran,” Dr. Martin emphatically put it. He added that these are the facts we must talk about so that we accept the truth and live with it.

One of the other challenges is for us to accept independence as an option that resolves all differences of ever living together as brothers. We must only engage our diplomatic efforts to exist as peaceful neighbors after 2011. “This option must be considered alongside the need to push for the Abyei Referendum process and the Misseriya question to ensure that the Ngok Dinka are part of the Southern Sudan nation if Southern Sudanese vote for separation,” asserted Dr. Martin Elia.

Note: This is story from archived stories. The ideas expressed here the writer believes hold water now more than ever.