SUDAN AND SOUTH SUDAN: LEADERS PROMISE END TO LONG-RUNNING CONFLICT

Amidst the pervading doom and gloom atmosphere generated by the Syrian, Congolese and Middle East conflicts and the corrosive rhetoric emanating from North Korea and the likes of Iran, the Sudanese and South Sudanese governments have somehow colluded to contrive an unlikely silver lining.

 

It no doubt came as a surprise to many when the government of Sudan announced that its leader, the ICC-indicted President Omar al-Bashir was to make a visit to neighbouring South Sudan, a country which split from the Sudan in 2011 following independence and with whom they have been engaged in conflict since the aforementioned split. It was even more of a surprise when President al-Bashir followed through on his promise by visiting South Sudan in the past week. The visit signals a softening and warming in relations between both countries who until 2011 had been engaged in conflict which claimed the lives of an estimated two million people.

 

Recent conflict between both nations was the result of disputes over the ownership of oil rich regions bordering the countries. The dispute threatened to plunge the region into anarchy, a state from which it has hardly recovered following decades of fighting, but for the inspired intervention of the much maligned African Union (AU) who stepped in in time to prevent the escalation of hostilities. A demilitarised zone, akin to that in place in the Korean peninsula, established in March of this year is the legacy of the recent conflict.

Whether the pleasantries and niceties exchanged between both countries’ leaders at last week’s meeting will become a permanent feature of their relationship largely remains to be seen although if their leaders’ statements are anything to be relied upon then one may well surmise that a new dawn is set to spring upon the North African terrain. For his part, al-Bashir proffered, “We won’t go back to war. President (Salva) Kiir and I agreed that the war was too long.” His counterpart Kiir, also accepted an invitation to pay al-Bashir a return visit.

It is to the credit of both nations and the AU that the threat of war has seemingly been extinguished, albeit temporarily. The symbiotic relationship between both is however one which has been overlooked as constituting a catalyst for the improvement in relations between the countries. The production of oil, a resource which accounts for a substantial part of both countries’ economies, virtually ceased almost throughout 2012 and which, as expected, has had a devastating impact on their economies. For all the ills associated with oil, human rights abuses, totalitarian regimes, rouge states et al, oil, for once, should be given credit for perhaps saving the lives of innocent civilians who would no doubt have become engulfed in another senseless conflict. Both countries’ fortunes, like that of twins, are inextricably linked and as such their leaders, Kiir and al-Bashir, will do well to heed the mantra “together we stand and divided we fall”, as only then will the cessation of hostilities be rooted in permanence.