I spoke with CHF‘s Munish Persaud to get an idea of what it was like on the ground in southern Sudan. He just returned from his most recent visit to the region on Monday, July 4 (2 days earlier) and provided a perspective of the situation facing the soon to be independent Republic of South Sudan.

We spoke of the Human Development Index (HDI) and South Sudan’s declined status within it after independence when its statistics are no longer shared with those from the north of Sudan. The 2010 HDI value for all of Sudan placed it 154th of 169 countries listed. Once South Sudan is newly listed, it’s expected to drop to near the lowest on the list. We discussed the huge influx of southern Sudanese returning from the north of the country to a lack of infrastructure when they arrived, like no schools for their children, not enough boreholes to provide drinking water, an absence of clinics and hospitals, a precarious food supply and little opportunity for employment. What peace dividends were the southern Sudanese receiving as improvements in their overall lives that can be associated with peacetime benefits?

In part 2 of Amandla’s coverage of South Sudan’s independence, Gwen Schulman speaks to Ugandan human rights advocate and close Sudan-watcher, Sam Olara, on more political challenges facing Africa’s newest country.

It is rare to hear children reciting their school lessons while helping with housework or playing at home. But thanks to an education initiative called the Learning Village, the new habit might take root in Southern Sudan.

(A facilitator addresses teachers at an education workshop. © Akim Mugisa, courtesy SudanVotes)

The use of interactive radio instruction programmes is one of the pillars of the Learning Village, a project of the Government of South Sudan’s (GoSS) Department of Alternative Education Systems in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

According to Evalino Elias, an outreach coordinator, the Learning Village programme has been well received in all 59 participating schools of Yei River County in Central Equatoria State. “Children showed great interest in the use of radio sets,” he said. “The programme enhances pupils’ knowledge retention in schools.”

He added, however, that the programme is hampered by teacher transfers, the government’s civil service reform programme known as retrenchment (downsizing) and delays in payment of teachers’ salaries.

For all the anticipation in the run-up to South Sudan’s independence in July, the world’s newest nation can take no pride in having one of the lowest literacy rates in the world. Estimates range from 12-24%. After decades of conflict that crippled key sectors, development partners working with GoSS have been taking unprecedented steps to foster development, with particular emphasis on education.

To help reverse South Sudan’s poor quality of education and some the world’s lowest school attendance, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is supporting the Education Development Centre (EDC) to use radio as a means of delivering high quality education to children in Southern Sudan as well as the disputed regions of Abyei, Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan.

The EDC trains selected teachers in Southern Sudan Interactive Radio Instruction (SSIRI), which aims to improve the quality of basic education and make it more widely available. Another objective is to strengthen English language skills across all age groups by using radio as a mode of instruction.

Targeting primary school children up to fourth grade, the Learning Village focuses on local language literacy, English, mathematics and life skills. Solar-powered radio sets are used to play pre-recorded programmes that are broadcasted on local radio stations. Digital MP3 players substitute radios in areas without access to transmission signals.

Another programme, Radio-Based Education for All (RABEA) targets audiences with various levels of English language skills, focusing on arithmetic, health, and civic education programmes such as disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR). Elections, land ownership, democracy and women’s rights also form part of the curriculum.

Habib Muhamad, an avid radio listener in Yei, praised RABEA as a source of information about elections, democracy and other subjects. “It is through this radio program that I was able to understand my rights to vote or to stand in an election,” he said. “I have also learned that land in Southern Sudan belongs to the people but its management is regulated by our government.”

The initiative faces some logistical challenges. Godfrey Data Joseph, a deputy head teacher at Payawa Primary School in Mugwo Payam, said teachers are unable to implement the programme when they’re transferred to areas with different local languages.

Joel Yeka, a teacher at Lizira Primary School in Yei Town Payam, acknowledges the importance of the programme’s packaging, including the use of catchy songs. But he sees a potential drawback: although pupils and teachers follow the Learning Village broadcasts, they do not take notes in the exercise books. “This may make pupils lazy” about writing in the future, Yeka warned.

SSIRI, a six-year programme begun in 2007, is expected to end in 2012 when it will be taken over by the Ministry of Education Science and Technology.

(original article at SudanVotes)

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Read Marvis Birungi’s article School syllabi to include human rights and listen to her audio report:

(Was the raid on The Citizen an 'isolated incident' or a precedent for more censorship to come?, courtesy SudanVotes)

As Southern Sudan engages in the complex process of state building, free media seems to be one aspect the government needs to allocate more attention to. The Citizen, the only newspaper printed in the South, was subject to a police raid last Sunday.

With Southern Sudan soon to become an independent country, the main pillars of state building are now going through a process of revision and readjustment. Media in Sudan has known, under the rule of Khartoum, a series of abuses and sometimes violent instances of censorship. Free media is one of the pillars the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) claims to be committed to, as part of its transition towards democratic rule.

The latest police raid on Sunday 20 February against ‘The Citizen‘, the only newspaper with a printing press in Southern Sudan, triggers concern over the future of free media in the region. The raid has been described as an “isolated incident” by Barnaba Marial Benjamin, the Southern Sudan Information and Broadcasting Minister, in a report by AFP. The raid is not to compromise the basis of freedom upon which all media houses were and will be established in Southern Sudan, he further explained in the same report.

(David De Dau, head of South Sudan's Agency for Independent Media (AIM), courtesy SudanVotes)

The Chairman of the Editorial Board of ‘The Citizen’, Nhial Bol, guessed the raid to be caused by an article published in the newspaper, criticizing police management in the soon to become independent state. Establishing a printing press in the South was partially due to the high level of censorship exercised by the Khartoum government in the North, particularly against Southern media journalists. However, the freedom of media promised by the Southern government is now under scrutiny, as the North’s repressive methods against freedom of expression could be adopted in the South.

While the government promises a law guaranteeing the rights of journalists to be passed, media managers from other media outlets and activists like David De Dau, the head of South Sudan’s Agency for Independent Media (AIM), express concern and hope for the media bill to be passed shortly.

Marvis Birungi brings this report from Juba, describing different aspects of this raid:

(original article at SudanVotes)

(source: Southern Sudan Referendum Commission & Southern Sudan Referendum Bureau)

As expected, a near unanimous choice for independence was cast by the more than 3.8 million voters who voted 98.83% for secession. The Governments of Sudan and Southern Sudan now have until July 9 — when the declaration of independence is scheduled — to negotiate through a series of unresolved issues.

On January 27, I spoke with Bonifacio Taban Kuich, a reporter based in the Southern Sudanese town of Bentiu in the heart of oil the producing region of Unity State. His reporting can be read at the Sudan Tribune as well as on Voice of America. He tells us about the situation in Unity state: the return of over 100,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) from Khartoum and elsewhere; the military buildup of SAF and SPLA troops in the border regions; the reactions to the referendum results of northern merchants living in the south and of southern oil workers; and other issues affecting Unity State.

The following audio report podcast taken from the interview was aired Wednesday, February 2 during weekly the African Issues show, Amandla on Montréal’s CKUT Radio 90.3 FM.

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According to the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission, 3,755,512 voters registered in Southern Sudan, while 116,857 voters registered in Northern Sudan and another 60,219 voters registered in 8 designated out-of-country locations (Australia, Canada, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, the UK and the USA.)  According to reports like this one, the 60% voter participation threshold was reached on the third day of voting, thereby validating the process.

(Children pose beside a damaged water tanker outside of a school in Abyei, April 2009)

SouthSudanInfo.net’s blogger, David Widgington, spoke with Montréal broadcaster, Gwendolyn Schulman, on the CKUT weekly (Wed. 7-8pm) radio show about African issues, Amandla. In the recording below, Gwen and David discuss the following unresolved issues 1) the border demarcation between north and south, including Abyei; 2) Sharing of oil revenue and infrastructure; 3) the management of the Nile floodwaters; 4) citizenship, right to return and security; 5) repayment of the Sudan national debt.

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PODCAST

What career can you imagine in the new Sudan?

(Modi James Lomindi, courtesy SudanVotes)

Mr Modi James Lomindi is running for Terekeka County in the Central Equatoria State Legislative Assembly of South Sudan.

[Montréal, Québec, Canada -2°C] Before the last civil war started in Sudan in 1983, the country’s protected areas, according to the Wildlife Conservaton Society, “supported some of the most spectacular and important wildlife populations in Africa, and hosted the second largest wildlife migration in the world.” According to their website, “During an aerial survey, more than 1.3 million white-eared kob, tiang (African antelope), and mongalla gazelle are thriving in Southern Sudan.” And apparently, an estimated 8,000 elephants are located within the Jonglei region and particularly in Boma National Park.

To the surprise of researchers, wildlife remains plentiful in southern Sudan's Boma National Park, despite a long civil war, which ended in 2005. Here, a herd of elephants move through a grassland in the park. (Miguel Juarez for NPR)

This seems like such good news considering that all other information coming from Sudan is about war crimes in Darfur, tribal conflict, a fragile peace agreement and upcoming elections which may or may not be fair and free.

Sudan’s central and southern governments are over-dependent on oil for their respective revenues. Considering most of the developed oil fields straddle the as-yet-undemarkated border that situates the south, oil will play an important role in the country’s ability to hold on to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and avoid a third civil war.

Within the volatile political context that is Sudan, there has been little to no reporting on the country’s natural environment and the potential for wildlife reserves and national parks to become an important source of revenue for the South. Tanzania’s revenues from safari tourism is their second largest source of foreign currency after agricultural exports. And it is steadily growing.

The south is now seriously underdeveloped and lacking in general infrastructure and its primary foreing trade is done in oil, which is managed by the Central govenrment in Khartoum who shares the revenues with the government of Southern Sudan. The South has other exports like gum Africa to gain some foreign currency for its own development but it needs more revenue streams and with greater dieversity.

Of course it will take a while to develop the infrastructure for safari tourism but the southeastern region of Southern Sudan seems apt to offer an important future source of revenue that can rival oil exports.

Considering that wildlife tourism could be added to the important oil export to earn foreign capital, the region’s national parks and wildlife reserves could provide a genuine revenue stream for Southern Sudan’s economy that would diminish oil dependence.

Sudan Oil / Wildlife Overlay (source: Wildlife Conservation Society and European Coalition on Oil in Sudan, 2007)

Sudan Oil / Wildlife Overlay (source: Wildlife Conservation Society and European Coalition on Oil in Sudan, 2007)

How will an oil economy adapt to an emerging wildlife conservation economy? Just how do the two share the land? I thought it would be interesting to visualize how the two might complement or conflict with one another. Wildlife conservation and resource exploitation do not make good bedfellows and are unable to share the territory.

The map to the left is an overlay of two maps: one of national parks and wildlife reserves taken from the Wildlife Conservation Society and the other is of oil concessions and exploited oil fields taken from the European Coalition on Oil in Sudan.

It would seem that the Zeraf Reserve and the proposed extension are located in Blocks A, 5A and 5B, three very active regions of oil exploration and exploitation, particularly Block 5A.

The Southern National Park seems to be outside any region of exploration. The Boma National Park as well as the proposed Bandingallo National Park are within Block B at the fringes of oil exploration but not at risk of exploitation and future exploitation.

How these two ‘resources’ will coexist has yet to be seen. Hopefully, the Southern Sudanese will recognize the long-term benefits of protecting the land and its wildlife for their own benefit and the benefit of wildlife enthusiasts rather than succumb to foreign lust for oil. If the so-called ‘international community’ is genuinely interested in helping Sudan hold on to its fragile peace and preventing a third civil war in the Sudan, it needs to begin washing the bloody oil of its hands and help build a local industry that brings money into the country rather than take resources out.

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Further reading:

- After Sudan’s Civil War: Where the Wild Things Are. NPR’s WBUR Radio.

- Fragile peace may unravel in Southern Sudan. CNN

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Below is a video from CNN that give us a first-time glimpse of oil well pollution in Southern Sudan.

Francis Obur Gerald travels for the first time to his country’s capital Khartoum, to attend the MICT media election training. There he meets his fellow Northern Sudanese colleagues who tell him of the difficulties operating as a journalist especially as a female. He also interviews the Head of Teeba Press, Mr Faisal Mohammed Salih, and Klaas Glenewinkel, Executive Director of MICT.

(Francis Obur Gerald stands with MICT Trainers and Northern Sudanese colleagues, courtesy SudanVotes)

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Francis Obur Gerald chats to Northern Sudanese journalist colleagues about the difficulties in operating as journalist in Khartoum

Here is the transcript of the audio report with a few added photos:

Exactly three weeks ago, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the President of Sudan, Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur. Like many people in Sudan, I was glued to the television set to view the announcement. It was 4 p.m.

An anonymous blogger who worked for an international aid agency in Darfur wrote on AlertNet, that one hour after the announcement was made, his agency received a phone call. “The Government had revoked our licence and we must close all our programmes. No further explanation. First thing the next day we were told all international staff had to leave Darfur by 4 p.m.” They had to be out of the area exactly 24 hours after the ICC announcement.

According the the UN’s Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 13 International Agencies were expelled:
- Action contre la faim
- Solidarité
- Save the Children (UK & US)
- Medecins Sans Frontières (NL & FR)
- CARE International
- Oxfam (GB)
- Mercy Corps
- International Rescue Committee
- Norwegian Refugee Council
- CHF International
- PADCO
- And three Sudanese relief agencies were also closed.

The International Herald Tribune reported on March 21, that armed men looted Oxfam’s Darfur Warehouse, “stealing all of its contents.” While in Malual Kon, Northern Bahr el-Ghazal State where Mercy Corps has a compound, I learned that all of their equipment from their Darfur and Khartoum operations were seized since their expulsion: computers, communication radios, everything. Since their communication system was centred in Khartoum, they have had to reorganize their communication strategy for their activities in Southern Sudan.

Internews—which is an International NGO affiliated with Mercy Corps—coordinates Nhomlaau FM in Malual Kon. It has three other community radio stations in Southern Sudan. One of these is located in  Kurmuk, Blue Nile State, which is within the North/South transitional area. The radio station there was nearly closed along with Mercy Corps, but they managed to continue broadcasting by arguing their independence of the US-based NGO.

I’ve been travelling throughout Southern Sudan for the past four weeks and was recently in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal state, which shares its northern border with Southern Darfur. According to the IRIN News Network, Northern Bahr el-Ghazal is expecting an influx of Internally Displaced People (or IDPs) from Southern Darfur as conditions are expected to deteriorate as a result of the expulsion of the 16 NGOs. Although the report suggests that the UN and the Southern Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission are “are preparing for potential inflows of Darfuris,”  their arrival will certainly put a strain on the area’s already scarce infrastructure.

IDPs returning to Northern Bahr el_Ghazal in 2007 (courtesy IOM)

Since 2007, there has been a coordinated transport of hundreds of thousands of IDP returnees to Northern Bahr el-Ghazal from Southern Darfur and Khartoum. These people are returning to their homeland after being displaced during Sudan’s other civil war that ended with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005. Many are returning to rural locations without access to sanitation, safe drinking water, clinics or schools.

According to the International Organization for Migration (or IOM), many villages in the area have had a rate of IDP Returnees as high as 80-90% of their pre-2007 population. 2007 is the year when organized returns of Internally displaced people began in earnest with the help of IOM and the government of Southern Sudan.

waterhole in War Faj, Northern Bahr el-Ghazal

Access to safe drinking water is already in short supply throughout the state for those already living there. The influx of Darfuris could cause serious tensions at existing water sources and could lead to localized conflict. Waterborne infectious diseases, like cholera and meningitis, could become a serious problem.

To make matters worse, the rainy season is approaching. By the end of April, road travel will be become difficult and delivery of goods will be seriously impaired. Rain is a serious matter in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal and neighbouring states. During the 2008 rainy season the state experienced serious flooding. During my time in the area, I’ve driven past remnants of nearly half a dozen temporary camps where thousands were displaced to during last year’s flooding.

Flood Map of Northern Bahr el-Ghazal and Warrap States (courtesy UNJLC, Juba)

A  March 1, 2009 report from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, writes, “The potential movement of 1.5 million displaced Darfur residents into Southern Sudan’s Northern and Western Bahr el-Ghazal states, due to disruptions in humanitarian assistance, presents a severe threat to food security in the two states.”

During a visit to Darfur four days after the ICC arrest warrant was issued President Al-Bashir said that his decision to expel the 16 NGOs from Darfur was “irreversible.” The position of the Khartoum government has not changed since, although they have vowed to replace the international NGOs with Sudanese agencies and end the need for aid in Darfur within the year. No clear solution is in sight.

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An interesting article about Fallout Scenarios as a result of the expulsion of 16 NGOs from Darfur can be found here.

In the offices of Sudan Radio Service in Nairobi, Kenya. (February 2009)

While in Nairobi, I made contact with Southern Sudan as it expresses itself in exile, taking refuge from the past while building for the future. One of the first visits was to the offices of the Sudan Radio Service (SRS). This organisation is Southern Sudan’s first independent broadcast provider of news and information about Southern Sudan. It is broadcast on various FM and shortwave signals. Their first broadcast was made on July 30, 2003, 1 1/2 years before the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the Khartoum-based Government of Sudan and the southern-based Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). SRS broadcasts in English, Arabic and eight Sudanese ethnic languages, and focuses exclusively on Issues and events in Sudan.

I met with John Tanza, the radio station’s Deputy Chief of Party (a title that reflects the primary funder of SRS: USAID). We discussed possible collaborations between me and SRS correspondents based in Southern Sudan. We decided that I should meet with SRS journalists that work from areas I visit to collaborate on stories of common interest.

Dan Eiffe in his Sudan Mirror office in Nairobi, Kenya. (February 2009)

In fact, we have planned that I hook up with Martin Siba, the SRS Wau Bureau Producer. I will be going to Wau after Juba on Wednesday, March 4 for a few days before continuing onward to Aweil, Warrap and Abyei.

Another place I went to visit are the Sudan Mirror. The paper’s publisher and founder, Dan Eiffe (photo) invited me into his office and told me stories of when he was a young Irish priest in South Africa and later in Southern Sudan. He told me that in June 1998 he stood in the US Congress and said to the congressmen and women during his testimony, “Southern Sudan is apartheid at its worst. Apartheid is a tea party in comparison to what happens in Southern Sudan.” Below is an audio interview I did with Dan Eiffe in February 2009.

Outside the modest grounds of Sud Academy in Nairobi, Kenya (February 2009)

Southern Sudanese refugees left Sudan during the civil war in numbers of about one million. This does not include the internally displaced people (IDPs) that rang from 4.5 to 5 million people. Many refugees ended up in Kenya and among these are the students of Sud Academy, a primary / secondary school based in a poor neighbourhood of Nairobi.

Partial funding for Sud Academy comes from Canadian Aid for South Sudan (CASS), through which I learnt of the school and who gave me contact with, Kellee Jacobs a Canadian volunteer who bfought me to the school. She wrote The Right to Education – Sud Academy’s Case Study. I’ve posted more photos from the school here.