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Sudan: Country's Silent War for a Secular Nation
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The Monitor (Kampala)
OPINION
9 March 2008
Posted to the web 10 March 2008
Badru Mulumba
Southern Sudan
On February 25, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), a rebel group from Darfur led by Abdel Wahid Al Nur, announced it was opening an office in Tel Aviv. Al-Nur said given the fact that the Israeli government had been protecting youths from Darfur from genocide, it's those Darfur escapees, now grown up who led the drive to open an office in Tel Aviv.
The toing and froming that has resulted from this move says little about the merits or demerits of a rebel faction having an office in Israel, but it says a great deal about the religious prism through which Khartoum still sees the world.
First, Presidential Assistant Nafie Ali Nafie told the official that Al Nur's rebel faction was managed by a "Jewish lobby" in the US, and that by opening an office in Tel Aviv, Al Nur meant to bypass the lobby and deal directly with Israel.
"Nur is gifting our Darfurian people to Israel to Judaize them," Nafie is quoted saying. "We are sure that the Darfurians will be provoked and reject Nur's reckless and irresponsible step because he is targeting his people's religion and unity."
On the same day, Sudan's junior minister for Information & Communications, Kamal Obeid, said the move had aggravated the conflict and torn the social fabric of the Darfurians. Obeid referred to the SLM's move as treachery and treason.
The implication of this statement is clear: Rebelling is more acceptable than opening an office in Tel Aviv. Obeid promised that the move would be followed by strong reactions, especially from the people of Darfur.
A day later, on March 2, the Associations of Darfur students in universities issued a statement signed by Assistant Secretary General for State Affairs of the Sudanese Students' General Union, Abu-Bakar Adam Ismail.
According to the official Sudan News Agency, Ismail asked Sudanese students to boycott the SLM's activities for "becoming a tool in the hands of Zionists". For a leadership that has sought to rule Sudan under one religion, this is probably not unexpected.
Apart from highlighting the religious exclusionism that pervades Khartoum, this toing and froming is important because of what it is says about Sudan's next war: A Muslim-on-Muslim battle for a secular country. Al Nur, like many Darfurians, is a Muslim, as are most of the leaders in Khartoum.
Al Nur told the Sudan Tribune, a Paris-based online publication, that the SLM has a vision for a liberal, secular state" in Sudan.
"As such, we encourage tolerance towards all religions and ethnicities as well as peaceful co-existence," he said.
Notably, the very day Al Nur was saying this and inaugurating the office in Tel Aviv, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the militarily strongest of the Darfur rebel factions, was pledging the same.
In an Op-ed published in the press, the speaker of the JEM Legislative Assembly, El-Tahir Adam El-Faki, noted that some people inside and outside Sudan brand his movement Islamic and says it is affiliated to Hassan Al Turabi. He notes that the political consequences of this accusation have been "especially devastating" to JEM, mainly at the international level, adding that the main beneficiary is the Sudanese government, "which created the label in the first place".
It is notable that Southern Sudan earned its rights to secularism after a war in which the people of Darfur provided the foot soldiers to prop up Khartoum's Islamic legacy. As a result, there is no love lost between Darfurians and Southerners. In fact, many in Southern Sudan still find it hard to believe that Darfur has changed.
Going by the subjective definition of ethnicity, would Darfurians place their African identity ahead of their religion? This is important to many in the south because it tells a lot about how Darfurians would align themselves in any military or political conflict between Khartoum and the South.
Reading El-Faki, it's probable that many in Darfur have redefined their identity politics. "Through centuries, Darfurians thought their common faith with the Arabs would have made them equal among others," El-Faki writes, adding that this did not happen. "This situation has stirred some Darfurians to doubt their faith and their hitherto peaceful co-existence and distance themselves away from the Arab community."
Sudan's leadership calls the country Arabic, yet half the population is non-Arab; it calls the country Islamic when about 40 per cent of the population is not.
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The latest round of bickering between the Darfur rebel groups and the Arab and Islamic-led government in Khartoum over secularism, Judaism and Israel would suggest a shift in the identity politics in Darfur and a renewed fight for the religious soul of the country.
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I just want to share with you an article I wrote in Sudan Tribune Daily Newpaper(Khartoum)about the government's reaction against Abdulwahid Nur upon opening an Office in ISRAEL.
What a Pity It is being circulated that the move taken by Abdulwahid Nur is triggering a wave of public reaction all over the country and that his move is causing security threats to the unity of the Nile Valley, the Red Sea and the African Horn; it is further stated that Mr. Nur is causing more harm to Sudan in general and Darfur in particular. I believe it is good to... [Read Full Text]
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