Facilitating dialogue to promote open and multi-faceted discussion and awareness

One of the greatest tragedies of the 21st century and the last decade erupted from the cradle of civilization. The release of Britain’s colonial grip on Sudan 55 years ago initiated a gruesome religious take-over of the country, incited by the Muslims of the north in attempts to cover both the north and the typically Christian south with Sharia law. This week though, after several breakthroughs and frustrations during the turn of the new century, the nearly autonomous south is getting what it’s waited half a century for; a vote for independence from the northern government based in the capital, Khartoum.

Sudan’s economy is built on oil. With rich oil fields in the south and massive ports leading into the Red Sea in the northeastern part of the country, Sudan has experienced some of the highest GDP growth rates since it started exporting crude oil in 1999, with little help (besides aid) from the west, mostly due to business sanctions imposed by the United States. GDP growth has found itself booming with rates between 4% and over 10% since 2005. With 95% of exports consisting of mineral fuels, oils, distillation products, etc., and nearly 50% of those exports going to China, it’s easy to see that effects of U.S. sanctions have been null, although it can’t be exaggerated enough that wealth in Sudan is concentrated in very small pockets of the populace.

Mixing this information leads to some complications. Southern Sudan holds many of the oil fields whereas northern Sudan has the ports and fuel lines. These are but some of the complications facing the soon-to-be split country, along with issues of dividing the debt, armed forces, and some tribes that roam between north and south that don’t want to single out a particular side as their own, as evidenced by recent clashes between these violent nomads. Dozens of rebel factions still roam the country with no particular allegiance to either side, and the north has ramped up imports of weapons, especially aircraft and aircraft parts (consisting of nearly 40% of imports).

And the often looked over Darfur region, isolated nearly 600 miles west of Khartoum, has seen recent spikes in violence. Although the first few days of the referendum in Darfur have been seemingly calm, overall reports from the past several months have seen a significant rise in violence in the region. Even Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, a man riddled with human rights violations, has called for peace in the Darfur region, ironically as the Khartoum delegates recently withdrew from peace talks.

But with such high stakes, some are hopeful that this move towards independence will proceed pragmatically and peacefully despite the many complications. It’s an incredible feat to feel jubilant, especially after an estimated 2 million casualties and over 4 million displaced, not including estimates for the conflict in Darfur. A continued prayer goes out that this process would be smooth, and that peace would finally be secured for these people and this country. Like a budding flower from ashes, so we hope this vote will be for Sudan.