Wrapping up Day 1 with Ambassador Francis Deng: South Sudanese Permanent Representative to the United Nations

The opening address of the Sudan/ South Sudan Symposium has set the tone for the upcoming days as one of genuine collaboration. The atmosphere conjured by Ambassador Francis Deng’s keynote speech –suitably titled ‘Two Sudans Caught in a Spider’s Web’ – was one of a bold optimism mixed with grounding criticism. His account of the Sudanese government’s handling of the Abyei region resonated with the crowd; many South Sudanese and Sudanese alike who are watching these events unfold closely.

The tensions between North and South, embedded not only in custom but reflected in institutionalized racism, were addressed in historical perspective. Ambassador Deng eloquently highlighted the illusion of a racial or ethnic divide along north-south lines and its strategic employment during the colonial occupation in order to create the condition of second-class citizenship for those deemed “African”. Identity politics has not only shaped the policies of Sudan, but in the context of a post-South Sudanese independence, it continues to plague any efforts for peace and the possibility of reconciliation. The North as it attempted to maintain centralized control, privileged the identity of a small minority and suppressed any attempts at deviating from its projected identity as a Muslim, Arabic Speaking nation with historic ties to the Arabian Peninsula.

Ambassador Deng delivered a thorough account of the right to self-determination –guaranteed in both the Addis Ababa Agreement of 1972 and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005 –and the lack of engagement demonstrated by president an-Nimeri and later by president Bashir in upholding this right. The South initially saw unity as favourable in the years following the first civil war, but a lack of cooperation from the government in Khartoum ignited a civil unrest that resonated beyond the borders of a southern rebellion, affecting numerous areas such as the Nuba mountains, South Kordofan, Kassala and later Darfur. Ambassador Deng was able to raise the issue of a Sudan whose ethnic and racial diversity goes far beyond the simple dichotomy of Arab vs. African, and a government that justifies its system of inequality by forcing a choice of one identity over the other. In the wake of a post-South Sudanese independence these tensions and racialized myths continue to persist, affecting relations between the two states negatively and we can see how this is currently playing out in the Abyei region.

In spite of the deteriorating relations between Sudan and South Sudan, Dr. Deng’s closing remarks were refreshingly optimistic. He offered his commentary on how the vision of a united or associated Sudan need not be lost, but the key he insisted was in the relation of an ongoing will to cooperate.