by Paul Oranika

Created on: July 09, 2011

Today July 9th marks a new beginning for the new nation of Southern Sudan which becomes the 54th country in the vast continent of Africa. I want to take this opportunity as an African to send my warmest greetings and congratulations to the president Salva Kiir Mavardit and people of Southern Sudan on this occasion of the celebration of their independence. For more than two decades, the people of Southern Sudan embarked on a struggle for self-determination from their oppressors, the Arabs from the North who migrated to the African continent a long time ago.

In a show of unity, the people of Southern Sudan voted in the secession referendum held on January 11, 2011. In that popular referendum, South Sudanese people voted 98.83% to secede from Arab dominated government of Al Bashir, whose administration has decimated the South Sudanese people and countryside with its Janjaweed militia who inflicted genocidal attacks on poor and innocent peasants of South Sudan. The word Janjaweed is an Arabic colloquialism which simply means “A man with gun riding on a horse.”

The members of the Janjaweed militia are mostly drawn from nomadic Arabic tribes who for long time have been suppressing the African families and tribes mostly farmers who live in Darfur provinces of Sudan. The historical conflict in Sudan originated in Darfur partly due to scarcity of water and land resources necessary for farming and animal husbandry. The Janjaweed have been known historically as horse riding bandits who would intimidate non Arab farms to rob and steal their cows and resources.

With independence, South Sudan’s example has illustrated the problems and difficulties between Arabs and native Africans. The Arabs have often considered themselves superior to African people and it was this feeling that led to the trans-Saharan slave trade where local African people were sold to Arabs as slaves, and some were forcibly conquered and taken into slavery. South Sudanese people have demonstrated that despite their lack of military resources they were able to withstand the armed soldiers of the North in their bid for self-determination.

What are the lessons and implications of the South Sudanese independence for the Sudanese people and for much of Africa? Well the problem of Arab domination is over in Sudan, and the African natives can now carve their own destiny. The main tribe in South Sudan is the Dinkas, and South Sudanese are mostly Christians with other Animist African

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>