Plenary Panel #2: Understanding the Economic, Social, Political and Cultural Factors Underlying the Chronic Humanitarian Crisis in Sudan/South Sudan.

Today’s second plenary sessions focused on understanding the socio-political and economic factors underlying the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. Speakers Kennedy Jawoko –freelance journalist and Dr. Amani El-Jack; professor of Women’s Studies at the McCormack Graduate School in Boston –delivered insightful addresses that bridged the gap between theory and practice. Jawoko spoke of his personal experience engaging people on the ground in South Sudan with media as an outlet for conflict resolution. His experience with the Catholic Radio Network –a major actor in the facilitation of peace building –has opened the floor to marginalized voices, particularly those internally displaced persons to air concerns and comment on the decisions of government. The media, he asserts, will continue to play a major role in on the ground activism and awareness. With these words Jawoko turned to the issue of food security and how literacy in media/ journalism might help to deal with this issue, making reference to issues such as the Dura Grain scandal in which the government of South Sudan paid up to 1$ million for cereals that were never delivered. Pointing out his confidence in awareness to act as a key mitigator in human rights violations on the people of South Sudan; Jawoko suggests that involving and/or training journalists to report effectively would help to place South Sudan on a suitable trajectory forward.

Dr. Amani El-Jack picked up on the topic of internally displaced persons (IDPs) imbuing a gendered perspective that is often unaccounted for in conversations pertaining to the Sudan. Dr. El-Jack engaged with the topics of globalization, forced migration and transformation. Cutting the conversation across interdisciplinary lines allowed for a discussion of oil and resource extraction in conjuncture with the patriarchal lineage of the two Sudanese states (like all states for that matter) to produce major areas of focus in the construction of this humanitarian crisis. The gendered dynamic of the crisis, states El-Jack, is dynamic; forced migration and rape disproportionately affect women, children and marginalized men within both North and South communities. The experiences of both men and women in this conflict has transformed their understanding of self, and unfortunately the programs implemented by NGOs and aid agencies focus on short term solutions, brushing over crucial aspects of the humanitarian crisis. Dr. El-Jack pointed to other African states from which both Sudan and South Sudan could learn; Uganda, South Africa and others that have placed the issue of gender at the front of their peace building/ nation building efforts. The relations of power in either state cannot be addressed without reference to gender and Dr. El-Jack was quite eloquent in regards to advocating this as a way forward for both Northern and Southern governments.