Nonviolence in Sudan

Written by Martin Smedjeback

Tuesday, 16 August 2005

Martin Smedjeback

"Bitterness, hatred and misery…this was what I expected to find in Sudan before I came there in April 2005 for the first time in my life. What else can you expect after 21 years of civil war and when Sudan is one of the poorest countries in Africa? Instead I was met by an incredible hopefulness and believe in peace, nonviolence and reconciliation."

This year we have heard quite a lot in the media about the genocide in Darfour, in the west part of Sudan. For good reasons, because it is the worst conflict in many years in Sudan. But massacres and war has ravaged Sudan for many decades. The war between the government in Khartoum in the north and the SPLM/A (Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army), a guerilla movement from the south, has been going on for 21 years. It is estimated that two million people has been killed in the war and that four million Sudanese from the south have become refugees. Many of them flew to refugee camps around the capital Khartoum. It was these people I came to meet.

The war has been seen as a religious war between the Muslim-dominated north against the Christian-dominated south. The government of Khartoum has in the past made it out like that, especially when they openly on TV declared Jihad (holy war) in 1998 against the south. But there are some that refuse to make it into a religious conflict.

- You can’t declare Jihad against your own people, says Moses John. We from the south are both Christians and Muslims.

And he begins to explain to me that in the south Muslims and Christians have been living together, even within the same families, for decades with full respect of one another. If there for example is a festival for Christians Muslims will join and vice versa.

Moses John is one of the founders of the organization SONAD, Sudanese Organization for Nonviolence and Development, and today he is their secretary of finance. He is one of the many million southerners who has left the south and now lives in the outskirts of Khartoum. He is one of few who got the privilege to study at the university. Moses began to meet with his friends at university who shared his thoughts of a different Sudan:

- Considering the situation of our people, especially the internally displaced people, we said we have to do something. If we wouldn’t do anything it would be a crime we felt, says Moses.

They did do something. They started an underground organization which organized and conducted workshops in development, HIV/Aids, human rights and democracy. In the 1990:s when they started with their activities it was still war and the government was tough on independent and outspoken organizations.

- When you give people awareness on human rights issues and democracy some people look at it as you are an enemy of the government. So it was not easy for us to work openly, explains Moses.

But is seems like the winds of change are blowing for Sudan. The 9th of January this year a peace agreement was signed between the government in Khartoum and the SPLM/A, which has ended the civil war. There have been some attempts of peace agreements before, but this time it seems like people more optimistic than ever.

- Yes, I am hopeful, says Moses. Because it appears that the government has admitted that democracy is the best way of governing the country. Since they have accepted to go for dialogue Sudan will one day live in peace.

Since 1999 SweFOR (Swedish Fellowship of Reconciliation) and SONAD have had a partnership. This year we have increased the co-operation to include workshops on nonviolence. In April I came to Sudan to be a part of a nonviolence workshop. One of the participants was Jacquiline Natepi Ben, a 27-year old teacher. She fled from the south of Sudan to Khartoum in 1989 when her city was being bombed. She tried to explain to me what it means to have a triple handicap; being young, woman and a refugee.

- Women are seen as second class citizens and we are not allowed to speak in public. They just have the girls for marriage as a business. Someone will come and pay maybe 50 or 150 cows and take you. This is what I am trying to fight. Like this Sudan is not going to develop.

The struggle for equality between men and women is something that arises again and again during the workshop. I understand why because when there are practical things that have to be done like putting the food on the table or handing out drinks in the workshop the men sit passively while the female participant run quietly and fix all those things. At the same time it is apparent that it is an inequality that the participants are ready to talk about, even the men.

- Now when we have peace, gender issues must be addressed, says one of the male participants in the workshop.

Priscilla Napuli Paul, a young slender woman is secretary of gender in the board of SONAD. She concurs about the inequalities between men and women in Sudan.

- If I get an education and if I apply for a job they tell me; “no, you are not supposed to be here, because you are a woman”.

Sometimes women in Sudan commit suicide by hanging themselves because of the way they are treated. But Priscilla is herself evidence that things are changing. She tells me how her father wanted her to help more in the kitchen and get married quickly. Priscilla answered: “Papa, I am going to change the world.” He just laughed and said that if you were a man I think that you could do great things but you are a woman. Today she has attended six of SONAD’s workshops and has organized one herself. This seems to have affected her dad’s opinion of her abilities. Sometimes she has late meetings and doesn’t come home until 12 o’clock at night.

- But now my father says: “It is ok, I am sure you doing something good.” Now he respects me. I am free, Priscilla says proudly.

One day at the workshop we talked about Badshah Khan, a Muslim who lived in what is today Pakistan, who was a leader for the Pathan people, who were known for their skills and brutality in battle. Despite their violent history they turned away from violence and with the help from Badshah Khan and inspiration from Mohandas Gandhi they created a nonviolent army of a hundred thousand men who resisted the British occupation forces with nonviolent methods. After this session Simon Chol Martin, a tall man with a kind face, approached me and said:

- We, the Nuer people of Sudan, are like the Pathan people. We are known and feared for our aggressiveness. But with the story of the Pathan people and with this workshop I feel there is a good chance for us. I will go back and work to empower the Nuer to use nonviolence as a means to get their rights.

Religion was one of the focuses in our workshop. And even if it wasn’t you couldn’t get around it in Sudan. Religion has everything to do with identity, culture and how you organize the society in Sudan. One of the things that led to the civil war was that the government insisted on introducing sharia (Islamic law) in the whole country, including the Christian regions of the south. Can religion be used to unite rather than divide the people of Sudan?

- We believe that the message of the Bible can be used to liberate our people from the bondage of oppression, says Moses. We are also looking forward to having Muslim brothers who are ready to use the Koran to liberate the Muslim community from being violent. I have not read the Koran, but I believe that the Koran preaches respect of the humanity.

Today there are not many Muslims in the workshops that SONAD organize but already next year there will be at least one workshop with 50 % Christians and 50 % Muslims. SONAD is taking on the difficult challenge of reconciliation. And there are so many challenges in Sudan, I learned during my short stay in April. One of the strongest impressions on me was made by a woman named Ester who works with street children and probably have seen more misery than I can imagine. She said with tears in her eyes in the end of the workshop:

- We have to restore confidence in our people, they feel inferior. We Sudanese have to unite. All the tribes of Sudan needs to unite. They have suffered so much. We need a vision to unite for a nonviolent future.

Leaving Sudan I feel hope because the vision is there and the will to change.

Martin Smedjeback, secretary of nonviolence in SweFOR

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