I arrived in Juba on February 26, 2009 during the dry season and met with temperatures that reached 45°C in the shade. I visited mine fields being cleared around the southern capital and observed mine risk education projects in villages still waiting for de-mining teams to remove the hidden danger. Farmers are still reluctent to till the land for fear of stepping on landmines that continue to kill and maim.

I flew to Aweil and visited dozens small villages in Northern Bahr el Ghazal. Here, people are returning to the homeland they ran from when they were attacked with a cruelty more recently witnessed in neighbouring Darfur. I interviewed men, women and children under their villages’ biggest trees. Here, up to 90% of the population have returned in the previous two years after living in displacement camps for ten, fifteen, even twenty years. They arrived without enough wells to supply drinking water, without sufficent schools, without clinics. They are finally on land that is theirs and want to stay, despite the hardships.

In the state of Warrap, I accompanied a vaccination program to the village of Lurcuk. Two medical assistants spent five hours giving innoculations against measles, tuberculosis, polio, diphtheria and tetanus. In all, 276 children were vaccinated.

Later, before my flight back to Montréal, I revisited the youth from Sud Academy, a school for Sudanese refugees in Nairobi, Kenya. I met them before my journey to Sudan and promised to return with images of their homeland, a place they barely remember and dream of returning. Most of them haven’t seen their parents or siblings since they ran from their villages, scrambling to escape the killing.

The photographs represent some of the people I met and who generously shared their stories.

The vernissage is Thursday, June 10 from 16h00-19h00 at Café Rico 969, rue Rachel est, Montréal. Videos I took during my visit will be shown at the vernissage.

Observers remained in their polling stations throughout the day and reported through their respective county and state coordinators to data collection and analysis centers for SuNDE in Juba and SuGDE in Khartoum, where the reports were verified for quality and analyzed impartially according to standards for non-partisan election observation. SuGDE and SuNDE shared their observations and findings and developed this fact-based statement, released simultaneously at press conferences in Khartoum and Juba, respectively.

Below are the report’s executive summary and a selection from the 15 graphs included in the Statement. the report is divided into two parts, one by the SUGDE of activities in the north and the other by SuNDE of activities in the south. This report and others are available in our reference library.

(Source: Election Statement by The Sudanese Group for Democracy and Elections (SuGDE) and the Sudanese Network for Democratic Elections (SuNDE) by National Democratic Institute for International Affairs - April 24, 2010)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• The April 2010 elections were a requirement for moving forward with implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). However, the elections did not fulfill the Interim Constitution’s and CPA’s aspirations for democratic transition and did not adequately meet the requirements of the National Elections Commission rules and regulations. Sudanese citizens demonstrated their desire for democracy without a doubt through their registering, voting and participating in lively political debate in these elections. Extraordinary efforts are required to achieve democratic governance, and SuNDE and SuGDE will seek to contribute constructively to securing peace and democratic progress. The hopes of citizens should not be allowed to slip away.
• SuNDE and SuGDE observed that the National Elections Commission (NEC) failed to adequately plan and prepare for the elections. The polling stations observed often lacked essential election materials to open on time or ran out of essential materials during the polling process. The inefficiency of the NEC to develop or publicize the polling station list and final voters’ lists in a timely manner also caused substantial confusion and potentially the disenfranchisement of a significant number of voters.

(Source: Election Statement by The Sudanese Group for Democracy and Elections (SuGDE) and the Sudanese Network for Democratic Elections (SuNDE) by National Democratic Institute for International Affairs - April 24, 2010)

• SuGDE and SuNDE observed that while the administration of the elections was deficient throughout Sudan, in Southern Sudan the administration of the elections was observed to be more problematic.
• SuGDE and SuNDE observed several positive aspects to the elections. Voters turned out in large numbers and conducted themselves in a largely peaceful manner. Polling officials showed a strong commitment to fulfilling their responsibilities, particularly given the difficult circumstances. Thousands of citizens volunteered with civic organizations to observe the election and stayed through all 7 days of the polling and the counting process.
• SuNDE and SuGDE recognize that this was the first election in Sudan since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and understand that the complexity of the electoral process and difficult logistical environment of Sudan made running this election challenging.

(Source: Election Statement by The Sudanese Group for Democracy and Elections (SuGDE) and the Sudanese Network for Democratic Elections (SuNDE) by National Democratic Institute for International Affairs - April 24, 2010)

• However, SuGDE and SuNDE recorded significant flaws in the election process at the polling stations observed
• SuNDE recognized that in South Sudan the political parties actively participated in the election however, SuNDE observers noted a need for parties, candidates, and their supporters or agents to better understand their roles in the electoral process, particularly regarding interfering with the polling process
• SuGDE notes that in the North of Sudan leading political parties boycotted the elections which deprived citizens of choice and made the elections confusing and less competitive.
• SuNDE was concerned by the troubling number of incidents of intimidation and harassment reported by its observers in South Sudan, particularly by party and candidate agents and supporters, and unknown and unauthorized security personnel.

(Source: Election Statement by The Sudanese Group for Democracy and Elections (SuGDE) and the Sudanese Network for Democratic Elections (SuNDE) by National Democratic Institute for International Affairs - April 24, 2010)

• SuGDE was concerned by incidents of violence, intimidation and harassment in Southern Kordofan, Western Darfur, Northern Darfur and Sinnar
• SuGDE and SuNDE are deeply concerned that the electoral process did not meet citizen’s expectations and failed to fully embrace democratic principles at the polling stations observed
• SuNDE and SuGDE urge all election stakeholders to learn from these elections and apply those lessons to improve the transparency and credibility of future elections, including the 2011 Referendum.

(source: A mugshot of Omar al-Bashir taken from Girifna Facebook page.)

These government tactics also led to the International Criminal Court arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. Charges of genocide are pending review.

A Geoffrey York article published yesterday in The Globe and Mail, introduced me to a dissident group based in Khartoum called Girifna, which according to their website literally means “we are disgusted” and metaphorically, “we have had enough.” They describe their beginning:

In the evening of October 30, 2009 a group of three friends in Khartoum noticed on the eve of registration day that Sudanese citizens had no information about where to go to register and no national campaigning by the government or civil society groups was taking place. This was a problem, because no registration meant no voting. The group was propelled to start a peaceful quest for change based on a campaign that urges citizens to register so that they have a role in ridding the country of the National Congress Party (NCP) that has ruled for 20 years through a military coup. On the following day the group printed informational brochures urging people to register and they received support from many others who helped with the funding and distribution.

(source: Girifna logo taken from their Facebook page.)

Voter education is Sudan is important, particularly since there has not been any multiparty elections in the country since 1986, so much of the population have never had the opportunity to choosing their government representatives.

High illiteracy rates throughout the country—particularly in outlying regions in the South, Darfur and elsewhere—makes voter education necessary to consider the elections free and fair. With government control of most of the media landscape, popular education like handing out anti-establishment voter education pamphlets (see video below) by Girifna activists is indeed an act of bravery.

(source: Girifna)

In fact, I just copied this from the @girifna titter feed: “2 OF our guys were beaten and arrested by the NCP in Ombada Khartoum and now we r in the police station.” Considering the group is only five-and-a-half months old, a test of their bravery may just be getting started… Solidarity!

Maggie Fick wrote an interesting article from Juba, Southern Sudan after meeting with Girifna members.

The voting period that started on Sunday, April 11 will end in the evening of April 15. Results were scheduled to be released by April 18 but the two-day polling extension may push the results announcement back as well.

—
Girifna Soap Advertizement (the photo on the shirt is the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir):

Members of Girifna hand out information pamphlets:

It has been five years since the end of a 21-year civil war between the government of Sudan and the southern SPLM rebels that killed two million people and displaced more than four million others in Africa’s largest country. According to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the people of Southern Sudan will probably vote in a self-determination referendum in 2010 that is expected to result in a seperation vote.

The detailed results of this week’s elections are uncertain, but Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir will almost certainly win the presidency of Sudan and Salva Kiir Mayardit is expected to win the Presidency of Southern Sudan’s semi-autonomous region. But these anticipated results are not without controversy during these elections when votes will be cast for two presidents, 24 governors and 26 state and national assemblies on up to 12 different ballots. The logistical challenges for holding these elections have already shown errors.

Africa correspondent for The Globe and Mail, Geoffrey York, has reported via Twitter that cardboard polling booths tend to blow away in the wind, that some polling stations failed to open on time because polling material had yet to arrive, or had received the wrong polling papers, that some polling stations stayed open three hours longer than planned, and that there is talk of adding a fourth day of polling to the elections.

Reuters reported that “confusion soon erupted on Sunday as centre after centre, sometimes hours into the voting, discovered that voters were using the wrong ballot papers or that names or symbols of candidates were either missing or incorrect.”

(source: SPLM Voices)

Most of the six million registered voters are participating in elections for the first time. With low literacy rates, particularly in the South, Darfur and other mostly-rural regions of Sudan, understanding the process (and the ballot papers themselves) cannot be taken for granted. The Guardian wrote that “the southern president, Salva Kiir Mayardit – himself a first-time voter – had to wait for nearly half an hour for his polling station to open, and then spoiled his first vote by dropping it in the wrong box.”

Concerns of election rigging were detailed in a March 30 policy briefing from the International Crisis Group as well as the consequences of a win by current President Omar al-Bashir, who has an arrest warrant against him for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur by the International Criminal Court.

The report accused the Khartoum government of manipulating the 2008 Fifth Population and Housing Census “by not counting opponents”. The NCP government were also accused of “drawing electoral constituencies to favour its candidates”, by drafting biased election laws, of tampering with voter registration and “the failure of the National Elections Commission (NEC) to properly train its registration officials and to conduct civic education campaigns nationwide.”

The NEC was also under fire for deciding to change the printer of the presidential and gubernatorial ballot papers from a Slovenian firm to the government’s own Sudanese Currency Printing Corporation. Potential tampering of the ballots quickly became a concern, as opposition parties demanded a probe into the ballots.

Government repression of opposition candidates, from both the NCP in the north and SPLM in the south, have been documented.

One day after the release of the ICC policy briefing, the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Movement withdrew its presidential candidate, Yasir Arman, from the electoral race for Sudan’s presidency because of continued conflict in Darfur and “election irregularities.” The SPLM has since decided to boycott all polling in the 13 states in the north. Other opposition parties have also chosen to boycott the elections. The boycott is designed to delegitimize the expected results of a win for Omar al-Bashir that would be gained by government rigging the electoral process.

The voting is to finish on April 13 (or maybe April 14 if there is an extension) with results scheduled to be declared on April 18.

(source: Sudan Votes)

[Montréal, Québec, Canada 3°C] Controversy is nothing new in Sudanese politics. Election songs by Sudanese musicians brings a breath of fresh air to the political wrangling of Sudan’s election campaign.

In recent days, we have learnt about the election ballots papers being printed by the governmental currency printer, the threat by Omar al Bashir to expell international election observers, thousands of missing names on voter lists in Eastern Equatoria, or the SPLM refusing the Sudanese Armed Forces to transport ballot papers to Southern Sudan.

It’s time to bring a bit of artistic creativity into the fold. Maybe spontaneous dancing will bring people together outside music shops in the markets of Juba and Khartoum, outside radio stations in Malualkon or Rumbek.

Sudan Votes asked musicians from all areas of Sudan to produce songs to promote peaceful, political participation in the upcoming April elections. On April 11, 2010, Sudanese will participate in the first elections in the country since 1986. Most people will have never voted before and popular education is an important facet to public participation.

The message of the music is “Yes to political participation! Yes to fair and peaceful elections!” A sort of election anthem. More than 120 submissions were received and 12 finalists were chosen by Sudan Votes journalists and German folk, soul and rap artist, Max Herre. Emmanuel Jal figures prominently among the finalists. I particularly like the track by Emannuel Kembe that you can listen to below.

___

The above tune is one of the 12  chosen tracks included on the Sudan Votes, Music Hopes cassette compilation that is distributed throughout the country.

(source: Sudan Votes)

All of the 12 tracks can be downloaded from the project website for free but people are encouraged to make a donation. The total donations will be divided evenly among the 12 artists in an equitable democratic process: Download what you like while supporting the initiative of each of the artists.

It reminds me… I bought six cassette tapes in the Aweil market during my last visit to Southern Sudan and I haven’t played them yet. I guess it’s time to dust off the old tape deck and give them a listen!

A Sudanese policeman guards election boxes and kits inside a warehouse in Khartoum March 17, 2010. Sudan will hold its first multi-party elections in 24 years in April. (REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)

Opposition party Umma Reform and Renewal Party (URRP) accused the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) of granting contracts for the printing of the election ballots to printers inside Sudan. UNMIS denied the accusations, saying that they regret the news reports that their Chief Electoral Affairs Officer was involved. According to China Radio International (CRI) English news service, “UNMIS spokesperson categorically dismisses such an allegation as unfounded.”

In a later Reuters report published on AlertNet, opposition parties are demanding an investigation into the Sudanese printing company who holds a contract to print the ballots for executive offices that include presidential and gubernatorial positions. Apparently, the UNDP had planned to give the contract to a Slovenian printer but the NEC intervened and gave it to the Sudanese Currency Printing Corporation, the government printer that also prints Sudan’s currency. It is unclear why the UNDP did not report the irregularity.

Other ballot papers were awarded by the UNDP to South African and British printing companies. Fears of potential fraud are mounting as the Sudanese Currency Printing Corporation could conceivably print illegal ballot papers to manipulate election results by stuffing ballot boxes.  This opens the door to the dispute of election results after the voting period and increase instability in an already volatile setting.

(source: Elections Assistance Bulletin UNDP Feb 2010)

A woman from Lurcuk Payam receives a tetanus vaccination, March 20, 2009. (by David Widgington)

[Montréal, Québec, Canada -1°C] I visited Southern Sudan March/April 2009. It seems like such a long time ago. Reviewing the video footage and photographs I took during my visit, brings me back. Below is my latest video montage of a particular day: March 20, 2009.

This is the day I joined a team of World Vision staff on one of their vaccination programs. We went to Lurcuk Payam in Tonj North County, Warrap State. The one-and-a-half-hour drive along bumpy roads that are inaccessible during the rainy season, took us past clusters of traditional tukul homes and herds of strolling big-horned cows.

We arrived at 11h00 under the shade of the biggest tree that stood outside of the local clinic and borehole well where women come to fetch water. Two vaccinators spent five hours giving innoculations for measles, tuberculosis, polio, diphtheria and tetanus. In all, 276 Lurcuk children are vaccinated and 167 women of childbearing years receive a tetanus vaccine.

_____

Census and Voter Registration

A Juba resident makes her registration for the Natonal Elections in April 2010, by Bonifacio Taban.

There are prerequisites to conducting a democratic election that include a census of the population to determine who can vote and in which electoral constituency. The Sudan census has been contested by the SPLM and analysed by others.

Citizens are required to add themselves to the voter list during the voter registration process, followed by a verification of the voter list after its publication. The Carter Center provided observers to provide an impartial assessment of the process. Registration of political party lists with their representatives ended yesterday after a seven-day extension. 

Political Campaigning

Once the politicians place themselves inside the arena of an election, democratic principles require than they are able to voice their positions in an election campaign. This is when they can criticize current government practices and provide an alternative approaches to governence that will make the electorate choose them on a ballot. In Sudan, elections campaigning begins on February 13 and ends on April 9, two days before voting begins.

The Sudan Electionnaire is an English/Arabic quiz that will compare you view on 30 debated issues with the positions of the 16 main parties for the upcoming elections. Once the set of questions are completed a ranking shows how your answers match party programmes. A very interesting tool that was released by The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Sudan, the University of Khartoum Institute of Peace Research with funding from the UK Department for International Development.

Media Coverage

Thousands of wind-up and solar-powered blue radios distributed by NDI in Sudan are bringing a dialogue about national issues to isolated communities. (courtesy: National Democratic Institute)

Even before campaigning starts, the media’s role in election coverage is crucial. Radio, television, print, online media and ‘under-the-village-tree’ journalists act as messengers between the voters and those seeking votes. Journalists provide analysis and perspective to the public debate and hold politicians accountable to their proposed platforms and promises as the campaign progresses. They also provide an amplified mouthpeice to citizens wishing to express their opinions to the politicians and other citizens. Sudan Votes, another website affiliated with Sudan Electionnaire, has election reporting resources including a media code of conduct, a Reuters Reporter’s Guide to Election Coverage (.pdf), election broadcast guidelines, and media election process reference material.

Voter Education

Sudan has not held elections in 24 years and a civil war raged in the country for most of those years, so the election process is not well known by the Sudanese. With literacy rates among the lowest in the world (see chart below), particualrly in poorly developed Southern Sudan and Darfur, voter education is a significant challenge if the April elections are to be fair and democratic. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) prepared a Sudan Civic and Voter Education Baseline Study (.pdf) in 2008 with funding from the Canadian International Development Agency.

Electoral System

Typical elections might require the selection of one, two or three representatives. (view a clip, below, of the first presidential election in Afghanistan,  in 2004) In Southern Sudan, each electorate will have twelve (12) representatives to choose from for three levels of government.

Three votes will be cast to select 1) the President of the Republic of Sudan, 2) the President of the Government of Southern Sudan, and 3) the respective State Governor.

North versus South Sudan Statistics (courtesy: Oxfam, UN)

Southern Sudanese will have three votes to cast for each of the following three legislatures: 1) the National Assembly in Khartoum, 2) the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly in Juba, and 3) the State Legislative Assembly in their respective State. Each of the three legislature votes is divided into three components: 1) 60% of the members are elected to represent geographical constituencies at their respective levels, 2) 25% of the seats are to be filled by women members elected by proportional representation from party lists at state level, and 3) 15% of the members are elected by proportional representation also from party lists at the state level.

Considering the above literacy and education rates in Southern Sudan, it will take considerable effort to educate the average electorate about the details of such a complex ballot system.

Ballot Papers

Drafting ballot papers that will allow illiterate citizens to make their selection is a design challenge of mammoth proportions. There are at least sixteen political parties vying for votes in Sudan. Many of the parties are represented on the twelve seperate ballots in the South. Each ballot will have to distinguish each representative from the other, and a ballot will need to quickly depict which seat in which legislative assembly are the representatives seeking election. They elaborate electoral system will all have to be represented visually and comprehensively in a complex election that can confuse experienced literate voters.

Polling Stations

The logistical demands of establishing up to 30,000 polling stations, printing approximately 220 million ballot papers representing the various constituencies, then distributing them—with the ballot boxes and other material—to each of the polling locations is daunting in itself. It is particularly challenging in a country the size of Sudan where lack of basic infrastructure, community remoteness and insecurity can interfere with the most coordinated of efforts.

Sudan’s April 2010 elections may be the most complex elections ever organized. Anywhere. Considering that a self-determination referendum is expected in 2011, one wonders if it would have been more realistic and appropriate to hold a simpler election process. Perhaps it would have been sufficient to elect only the three executive seats: President of the Republic of Sudan, President of the Government of Southern Sudan and Governor of each state. The simplification could have left constituent representative elections for a post-referendum Sudan, which most observers agree will result in a yes vote for independence of the South from the rest of Sudan.

—

Watch a video clip by Dominique Morissette of Afghanistan’s first presidential elections held on November 9, 2004. The video is best viewed in full-screen mode.

We left Sudan because of war and now we are going back for the first time in twenty years.

(source: Map No. 3707 Rev. 10, UNITED NATIONS, Department of Peacekeeping Operations Cartographic Section, April 2007; demarcation line source is US Department of State)

The Sudan has been at war with itself in two successive civil wars since its independence in 1956 from British rule in the southern region and British-administered Egyptian rule in the rest (Anyanya 1: 1956-1972 & Anyanya 2: 1983-2005). Colonial powers may have decided to create Africa’s largest country by maintaining the two administrative regions together but they may just as easily have divided the country along the Jan 1, 1956 Line of Demarcation. Power in a post-colonial Sudan was handed over to the political elite in Khartoum to the detriment of Southern Sudan, Darfur, and other peripheral regions far from the capital. Power, wealth, resources and development have always been tightly controlled by a small click of autocrats based at the confluence of the White Nile and the Blue Nile rivers. This Line of Demarcation is the divide that is now a defining line needing negotiations should Southerners vote for independence in a 2011 self-determination referendum, scheduled in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the second civil war in January 2005.

In the late 1980s, the war’s front line moved agressively through the border areas now dividing Southern Sudan from the rest of the country. When the war reached Koor’s, Gabriel Bol’s and Garang’s villages near Akon—where Northern Bahr el Ghazal meets Warrap state—everyone ran for survival. Those not fast enough were killed. Some managed to hide. Others, mostly children, were taken by northern government-backed militia and enslaved, like Koor’s younger brother Chol who we meet in the film after he is released from bondage and brought to Nairobi begin school.

Families were scattered as militia burned villages, killed their inhabitants and stole cattle. They ran in all directions to escape. Boys, often quick and nimble, ran the fastest and furthest away from the killing. As the youth continued to evade the war, they found themselves merging into growing bands of lost youth heading east toward safety. More than fifty thousand Sudanese eventually settled into one of five refugee camps in Ethiopia. In 1991, Ethiopia’s Mengistu government, allies to the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), fell. The new government chased the refugees out of Ethiopia, leaving the film’s three protagonists to roam for another year toward Kakuma II Refugee Camp in northern Kenya where they met.

Chris Koor Garang enrolls his younger brother, Chol, into a boarding school in Nairobi, Kenya. (courtesy Rebuilding Hope)

In 2001, the United States established the Refugee Resettlement Program for 4000 southern Sudanese refugees from Kakuma. Koor Garang was resettled in Tuscon, Arizona. Garang Mayuol went to Chicago, Illinois. Gabriel Bol Deng went to Syracuse, New York. A great book that should be read before viewing the film is David Eggers (2006) What is the What: the autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng. It provides the Lost Boys context in more detail than the film, which will help the viewer better understand where Koor, Garang and Gabriel are coming from.

Each of the three boys’ (now men’s) stories are similar. They are representative of many “lost boys” who immigrated from refugee camps for distant countries, recieved an education and are beginning to return to Southern Sudan. Some are returning permanently to work in the government, to teach, to start businesses, etc. Others are going back as philanthropic visitors to build schools, supply clinics, etc.

The three grown men share the common goal of locating their families that they haven’t seen since the war sent them fleeing their respective village so long ago. Some members of their families now live in the same villages from which they ran. Others now live in larger state capitals. Some have fallen victim to the war and were killed like two million other Sudanese.

Gabriel Bol Deng in home village (courtesy: Rebuilding Hope)

Chris Koor Garang is studying to become a registered nurse and works as a Licensed Practical Nurse. He has set up a Non-governmental Organization (NGO) (The Ubuntu) to provide medical supplies to the modest Brown Back Medical Centre in Akon, to distribute mosquito nets to local people and share his skills with care givers there.

Gabriel Bol Deng finished his undergraduate degree in mathematics education and is a strong believer that education is the answer to relieve poverty for his people. He started his own NGO (Hope For Ariang) to build a school in his home town of Ariang. When he arrives in Akon, Gabriel Bol meets an uncle at the market and asks the whereabouts of his parents. He is told to go to his home village to find out because he is not the one to say. Upon arrival in the village, an aunt walks up to him, revealing that his mother lives on in Gabriel’s eyes that resembled hers. He later shares an intimate moment under a large and healthy tree and tells us:

Our ancestors, when they die, they know what those people who are alive are doing. And I believe my mom really, and my dad… they know what I’m doing. The tree grew out of where my placenta was buried and it’s where my mom was buried… My mom is giving something back in the form of a tree. This tree is the greatest blessing ever and the greatest connection between me and my mom… There is no better way to honor them than really, to help people and contributing to making life better in Ariang village.

Garang Mayuol's homecoming (coutesy: Rebuilding Hope)

Garang Mayuol’s main goal during his first visit home is to seek out and locate his mother who he hasn’t seen in twenty years. He would also help his two friends with their NGOs. All three of them realized, as they distribute mosquito nets and sewing kits to villagers, that the need quickly surpassed their supplies. The anguish from not being able to provide for everyone is self-evident on each of their faces, particularly when one man repeats to Koor over and over after being told that there are no mosquito nets, “Just one will be enough for me and my kids.” While buyig supplies in Kenya, they decided to purchase less mosquito nets than expected due to weight restrictions on the charter flight to South Sudan. A decision that weighed heavy on their shoulders.

The historical background provided in the film is minimal but it still provides context to the war that displaced four million people, sent one million into refugee camps outside of the country and killed two million. Post-colonial power, typical for the British in retreat, was distributed to a select few to British best interest rather than the best interests of the population as a whole.

Gabriel Bol describes the source of conflict in Sudan when he states that the main source of the problem lies in the hunger for leadership. He says that clicks and specific groups are dominating politics and using religion to divide the people of Sudan.

The film portrays divisions between Arabs and non-Arabs in Sudan within its historical narrative. When referring to the divide-and-conquer strategies of Sudan’s central government in the civil war (Muslim north vs Christian South) and in Darfur (Arab vs black non-Arabs), Marlowe suggests that non-Arab black Darfuris are natural allies of Southerners. The divisions exploited by the Khartoum government are much more complexe and are not necessarily divided along religious, linguistic or ethnic lines. They were exploited along political lines to control power and share wealth to suit their political ends. It is dangerous to hint about such cultural/ethnic divisions prior to a self-determination referendum, because the minorities on both sides of the North/South border will suffer if political powers continue to exploit these divisions to prevent or promote separation of the Sudan.

Despite this, Rebuilding Hope gave me a glimpse at something new in Southern Sudan. The diaspora who left their homeland because of war are returning with hope for the future and a with strong connection to the land and its people they were froced abandoned so long ago.

—

Jen Marlowe recently wrote an update about South Sudan and updates us in her article: S. Sudan makes some progress amid possibility of war.

More from Jen Marlowe on Untold Stories: Pulitzer Centre on Crisis Reporting, including a video about education and health care in South Sudan.

Have you seen another film about South Sudan, Lost Boys or about changes taking place in Sudan that we should now about? If you are South Sudanese and have regturned to your homeland to rebuild after being in exile, what is your experience? Please share in the comments below.

—–

movie trailer:

Local drumist, Ajing Deng beats the drum as the dancers follows along. With him is a very young boy who is also caugh up in the action of drum beating. He is at it at a very young age, but its part of the rich tradition of the Sudanese culture.

International focus moved away from Sudan’s long civil war toward the regional rebellion and government’s genocidal reaction that began in Darfur around 2003. Darfur rebels became active with the objective of being included into the peace talks that resulted with the CPA deal. Unfortunately, they were excluded for reasons that are still not clear to me.

The signing of the CPA initiated a six-year interim period, during which time the central government in Khartoum and the semi-autonomous Government of Southern Sudan are to pass laws that will allow the two regions to coexist. Border issues are to be resolved, oil wealth distribution is to be made equitable, cencus and election legislation is to be passed. According to the CPA, if the two regions are still unable to coexist after the six years, then in 2011, Southern Sudan will hold a self-determination referendum to decide whether or not for independence, creating Africca’s newest independent state.

The 5th anniversary and Sudan’s first democratic, multiparty elections to be held in April 2010 are drawing more attention to the situation in all of Sudan. The myopic, but still important, focus on Darfur is being brought into the fold of the larger and more precarious situation in Southern Sudan, where much of the civil war was fought. If war returns to Southern Sudan, it will consume all of Sudan and the larger region.

One of the symptoms of the resurgent interest in maintaining the CPA in Sudan is Sudan 365, A Beat for Peace. Musicians from around the world (Sudan, UK, Australia, Japan, Brazil, Ireland, Egypt, Rwanda, Spain, Russia, USA, India, and elsewhere), take a video of themselves playing (mostly) percussian instruments that have been edited together in the video below as a single music video. Known artists like Radiohead’s Philip Selway, Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason, Snow Patrol’s Jonny Quinn, the Police’s Stewart Copeland, have participated.

If you want to add your beat to the melée, you just need to upload your peace beat. It’s time to get the drums out and call your friends!