The future of Sudan in light of the growth of regionalism
Abdel Moneim Abbas Al-Ahimer
- Quoted from Al-Rai Al-Aam newspaper -
Human societies went through gradual forms in the course of their social development throughout their long history, starting with the era of gathering fruits, then the era of hunting, which was followed by the discovery of fire, until the period of domestication and domestication of animals, and in turn, the craft of herding crystallized as a result of it, until the era of the state, the emergence of agriculture, and the discovery of food crops, passing through the era of the industrial revolution with its capitalist economic nature in European countries. It is self-evident that man is a social being whose life is only regulated in close groups. Before the emergence of the state, his first affiliation was to the tribe, which represented the ruling political unit for him according to local customs and traditions that differed from one tribe to another. With this understanding, the tribe is considered the first level of peace in the development of humanity, and it is a first type of racism. It is an example of what happened in the pre-Islamic era before Islam for the Arabs, and although they belong to one race united by a set of similar and analogous values and one language, they were exposed to tragedies in that period. Terrifying of the famous wars between them, as for the secondary type of racism, such as the bias of one element against another in its race, language, and traditions, such as the bias and bloc of Persians against the Turkmens, or the Germans against the Anglo-Saxons, and so on.
The second stage in the development of humanity is sectarianism, which is higher and higher than tribal fanaticism, due to the fact that a group of ethnicities and tribes may belong to a specific sect. We have the Khatmiyya and Ansar sects in Sudan, in addition to the various religious sects among Muslims and Christians. Next comes regionalism, which means a specific geographical area, which is more advanced and higher in status than the previous two, because we may find in the geographically specific area a diaspora of tribes and sects and perhaps sects and religions, but they may They all agree on clear goals and programs that work to achieve them in the reality of life.. But the finest that humanity has achieved, and this is what happened later, specifically after the success of the French Revolution, are the political parties and organizations that melted tribalism, sectarianism, and regionalism into one crucible, represented by the specific party organization. This may be done in different directions and formulas, whether it is by ideology, religion, or class and social towers. After all this social development that has organized the universe and that has been decided in the interest of democracy and pluralism with its various frameworks, the basic tools and means of which are political parties, tribalism, sectarianism and regionalism have become a form of backwardness and reactionaryism, and they are the ones that have caused all the disasters and setbacks facing the countries of the third system, including Sudan. If we investigate the factors and collapse of our previous democratic experiences, we find that this trio has a leading role in that. In a previous article I wrote in the Freedom Edition before it stopped and merged with the Smart Partnership, entitled Regionalism in the Sudanese Political Experience, and I limited it then to the regional blocs within the structures and organizational structures of the Sudanese parties. In this contribution, I will address it in general, in addition to the future of Sudan in light of its current rise and before the factors of its growth, and finally, solutions and treatments. Anyone who has followed the newspapers in the past two weeks will notice that the leader Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi has addressed it in one of his unique conversations and his elegant footnotes. The most beautiful of them is war and foreign intervention, describing them as the satanic trinity, which must be confronted by all means and capabilities because together they are dangerous means of fragmenting and dispersing the social fabric and national unity of the country.
One of the reasons for my standing there is the emergence and formation of a new regional organization that called itself the Northern Entity. This indicates that the torrent has reached its peak for reasons, the first of which is that regionalism this time has appeared in places other than its traditional arenas. The second is that the North region, despite its clear marginalization, is one of the areas with reasonable awareness of the country and that this disease is transmitted to it. Here lies the danger that requires the elites and vanguard in the country to stop and contemplate. In preparation for getting to the heart of the matter, it must be recognized that the Mahdist revolution had a significant role in national unity and the formation of the Sudanese state. It is true that the people of the west of the country were its main source of support, but it was able to convince reasonable segments of the people of the east, north and center of Sudan and parts of the north-south regions of the country to support it and believe in its religious thought. Even those who opposed it during the period of Caliph Abdullah al-Taayshi did not represent a specific geographical region, as a majority of the people of the north and center, and in a less extreme form, the people of the West, opposed it. The East, therefore, regionalism, was not present in its entirety during the era of the Mahdist revolution, when it was allied with or opposed to it.
The regionalisms, with their demanding political nature, appeared under the national governments after achieving independence, specifically in the period between the end of the 1950s and the middle of the 1970s. The Nuba Mountains Union, the Beja Conference, and the Darfur Renaissance Front were founded at that time. Some of these organizations are still active today, but they are weak organizations because most of the geographical constituencies in which their cadres ran in those regions, and in all the democratic experiments that took place in the country, were the merits of the two major parties. This proves that sectarianism in the country has its influence. Its influence is because the success of the candidates of the two sectarian parties was achieved with the help of the influence of the Khatmiyya and Ansar sects in those borders.
The Mahdist revolution, during the period of the Caliph, was not devoid of regional tendencies, and disagreements and discrepancies appeared at that time between the children of the sea, who were represented by the nobles, the people of Imam Mahdi, and the children of the West, who were led by the Caliph himself and his brother Yaqoub. This conflict is still causing the Umma Party, the legitimate offspring of Mahdia, to suffer from its effects and repercussions, and it was evident in its last conference when nominating for leadership seats. The Islamic Movement also suffered from it, especially after its authoritarian experience, and as an example of what happened when Dr. Ghazi Salah al-Din and Al-Shafi’ Ahmed Muhammad Ali competed for the position of Secretary-General of the National Conference in the first rescue phase before its division, and Ghazi Salah al-Din won, and at that time many doubted and doubted the announced result. Although the Islamist movement has an ideological heritage, regionalism within it has its influence, and the loudness of its voice is reinforced by all ears. This point is reinforced by the Black Book. From one step at a time, the spirit of regionalism prevailed over their thinking and their general mood. I believe that the smell of the Popular Congress is present in every detail, for reasons including that the statistics that are in its footnotes are accurate statistics that no ordinary individual can possess except those who are within the authority or who participated in it for a period, and in my perspective, the people of the National Congress have no interest in issuing it for two factors: the first is As a ruler, it is not in his interest to publish the book because what is stated in it does not help in the development and cohesion of the social structure in the country, and of course they do not need the appearance of signs of a situation that may contribute to the dissatisfaction of the people leading to another rebellion. The second factor is what was stated in the book, and in my opinion, the meaning of it is some of the influential people in power because of its social structure, and this appeared clearly in the spirit of the book in general.
The third factor is that the book was written after the events of the Fourth of Ramadan, the results of which included the division of salvation. It is clear that the book targeted the people of well-known parties, and of course the book is dominated by the statistical aspect, and those statistics are correct, but they are not intended, and none of the people of those parties conspired to sit down and plan to implement them. The political reality in Sudan and since independence came as a result of certain historical factors, and in my opinion, this reality has no way to disappear except according to its historical context, and I believe that the correct federal system is sufficient to change what is stated in the footnotes of the Black Book. The rise of regionalism in Sudan has factors, some of which this intervention can point out as follows:
First: The backwardness that Sudan suffers from is one of the reasons for the emergence and growth of the phenomenon, as it dominates the entire scene, especially since Sudan is a country with a fragile population structure, and a person who lacks the basics of life, including therapeutic, educational, and economic structures, is accompanied by a number of social ills that may lead him to sabotage his conscience and thoughts, and thus he is led behind harmful obsessions that return his retrograde humanity to bygone eras. All of this makes him hide behind destructive facades such as tribalism and religious sectarianism. And the geographical location.
Second: The term “marginalized areas” appeared in Sudanese political life from an early time, but in recent years it has formed a significant presence. Regarding this part, I can point out that the majority of Sudanese are marginalized, but in a relative way, and that the so-called conflict between the center and the periphery is not entirely accurate, but I explain this point clearly. Firstly, I must establish a definition of marginalization, and in my view it can be summed up in the word poverty due to the depletion of natural resources in the particular region or due to exceptional circumstances such as lack of security or inherited social practices and the so-called necessarily marginalized region. There are no services without which life cannot be straight. Of course, this is a result of poverty. With this understanding, a large number of the capital’s residents are among the marginalized, and before us here is the example of the East Nile region. Although it is located a stone’s throw from the heart of Khartoum, it is worse than many areas on the outskirts. In light of the years of rescue, all modern forces have become marginalized. There is no point in residing in the center of the capital, with luxurious therapeutic and educational edifices next to you and markets full of goods, while you cannot treat, educate, and feed your family.
Third: Some intellectuals from marginalized regions have a role in the growth of regionalisms, and the reasons relate to their mortal selves. They always ride the horse of regionalism, knowing full well that there is no solution to the problems of their regions except according to solutions within a general framework that inspires all the dilemmas of the country because the problems are the same and similar.
Fourth: Among the reasons for the growth of regionalisms are the Sudanese parties and the chronic diseases that prolonged their path to independence due to the absence of democratic practice within them and the mood, paralysis, and false patriarchal spirit that governs their path. Regionalisms dimmed and grew within them, and they emerged from the womb of political parties, and all those who adopted regionalism were within parties and in leadership positions.
Fifth: Of course, totalitarian regimes have a role, as long as their legitimacy is a military coup, and therefore they did not create within their authorities homogeneity that includes all parts of the country due to the nature of the composition of the armed forces inherited from colonialism and the first national governments. I believe that regionalisms have a whispered and modest voice under such regimes, but they exist and, by the nature of oppressive totalitarian regimes, they enter a dormant phase and democratic governments are always harmed by them due to the nature of the existing laws and freedoms. These are some of the factors that contributed to the rise of regionalism. Therefore, it is necessary for participation to clarify the future of Sudan in light of its growth.
Regionalism is an essential factor in the fragmentation of states. The collapse of the state in Somalia had its beginnings of a regional nature between northern and southern Somalia, and in the end the natural outcome was the spread and dominance of tribal and ethnic gangs, because the region itself is made up of different tribes and ethnicities. For example, if we take Darfur as a regional formula and example, we find that it distances itself from social cohesion by distances, because disagreement may occur within it under the pretext of which has sovereignty, the Arab race or the Negro, and if they agree. As for the Negro race, which one has the preponderance, the Zaghawa, the Masalit, or the Fur, and if they choose the Fur, sovereignty is given to the descendants of Ali Dinar or to others, and if they agree on the descendants of Ali Dinar, then the leadership will be transferred between them, and so on for what remains of the borders of Sudan. Therefore, the regionalists should not be overjoyed with their tension, because the devil is present in the details and details of the region itself.
One of the solutions to this problem is to pay attention to addressing the reasons that led to the escalation of the phenomenon, part of which the intervention mentioned, and for the political forces to work with great effort to solve the problems of the margins within an indivisible national framework, and above that, to fight and reject backwardness and value the role of enlightenment and modernity, which has been isolated and declined greatly.