If more or less the bearings move fine we might end up with a new nation next year as the Sudanese Empire would split up into a northern and a southern part. The news comes into light post a referendum that was released after a peace agreement was reached to end the bloody civil war that ate up the country from 1983 to 2005. Signed in 2005 between Omar al- Bashir the dictatorial ruler of the North Sudan and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/ Army (SPLM/A) it was decided by the Northern government to give up the control of the Southern part if a majority of the southern origin opt out to .The history of Sudan has been written more or less in blood with a civil war going on right since it got itself independence from an Egyptian rule in 1956. Two simultaneous civil wars have since then plagued the country and left the public in much of scarce. Added to this the country has also sought much pains in territorial conflicts with neighbouring countries of Kenya and Uganda. International perception of Sudan has deteriorated more or less because of President Omar al- Bashir who has been Sudanese head since 1989 and practiced the worst kind of atrocities over there. He is famously known to have negotiated the referendum of whose outcome would the world is eagerly waiting for.
Omar al-Bashir led a blood fight military coup in 1989 when the government was severed and he rose to power. Following the coup the Sudan has participated in repetitive genocides and rampant atrocities due to which it has been named as a troubled state by the United States. Sudan was declared meanwhile a totalitarian Arabic Islam state irrespective of a Christian minority which are a part of Southern Sudan. Interesting Omar al- Bashir is supposed to be the first state head to have ever been issued a warrant in the International Court of Justice for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur, another troubled region in West Sudan. However his negotiation over the referendum seems a little out of place. As the deadly civil war swept through eating most of what was Southern Sudan al- Bashir negotiated an agreement according to which an election in 2011 January would decide if the Southern Sudan would accede its independence.
The agreement was between the President and SPLM, a separatist rebel group which was given a part after 2005 to run the Southern Sudan under the reign of al- Bashir before till it reaches independence. The referendum was an intelligent step at that time but today with the international media it poses a huge threat to the division of the state. In speech it might be a lot easier to scrap of a piece of land and divide a map into two but in reality there are a number of factors attached to it. Southern Sudan was more or less a provincial Christian dominated region. However constant wars and refugee resettlements over decade has dissolved the old definition of the south. The area has transformed more or less in to a nomadic region of refugees with no proper financial, cultural and situational control. Out of the eight million people who go for voting including the southern settlers in the north five million people are parts of the nomadic tribes. Economically Sudan speaks for itself. Its per capita income lies somewhere close to 1.24 USD per day. In the south some 85% of the people cannot write and it has the world’s largest mortality rates. Most of the population is still dependent on American dropped refugee food packages for survival.
The referendum has seriously opened a number of opportunities for the Southern Sudanese to develop but is simultaneously posing a number of excruciating problems. The division would mean division of debt and all standing assets. Being in the backyard till now, it would be an outstanding moment for the South Sudanese but not for long. The weakness in education is surely going to show signs. However the North part is going to lose more. The Northern Sudan thrived over the oil assets of Sudan and the division would mean a division of all assets. This would cut out the North from a substantial amount of financial assets.
Henceforth the referendum is fiction till a proper voting takes place. Post the independence years it was in 2010 when the first time an elected parliament of Omar al- Bashir formed. Even though it was charged with practicing fraudulent methods during elections, the outcome was accepted. Following continued pressure from US and UNO an election was announced in January with requirement initially 75% but later reduced to 60% for succession into a new state. The North is going to lose more once the division takes place. Sudanese government has already made a heap of enemies all around and ripping of its resources would increase its vulnerability. How the South would cope if ever it is minted into a new state the future would tell. Till that time everyone is wondering whether this is mere eyewash or al-Bashir has finally come to his senses.
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