South Sudan

Institutional Legacy of Colonialism and the Making of a New State

Bibliographic Data

ID3978909
AuthorsChristopher D Zambakari (0000-0001-9728-5871, Northeastern University, corresponding author), Christopher Zambakari
Year2012
Volume17
Issue3
Pages515-532
Publication date2012-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of North African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1362-9387 • E-ISSN: 1743-9345
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13629387.2012.671996
OpenAlexW2040000824
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited32

The paper argues that the post-colonial crisis of citizenship demands a rethinking of the paradigm of viewing colonialism simply as a system of economic exploitation to viewing colonialism as a political project that is anchored in law. The paper provides a historical and post-referendum analysis of the political division between North and South Sudan. As South Sudan seeks to build a state that accommodates diversity, it faces the same question faced in many African countries, namely how to build a nation that embraces diversity within the country and transcends the urban–rural divide and the ethnic divisions that threaten to undermine the process of nation-building. In Africa, the law has emerged as the tool that distinguishes and divides between those regarded as natives and thus entitled to political rights and access to resources and those considered non-native for whom political rights and access to resources are withheld. The paper discusses the challenges that South Sudan faces in building a nation that will take into consideration diversity within the country and accommodate the different nationalities that live in South Sudan and in the border regions. It also explores whether there are ways to accommodate internally displaced persons, migrant workers, immigrants, and refugees within the current model of building a nation. The paper presents the New Sudan Framework as an alternative model and antidote to the colonial legacy of politicising race and ethnicity, enforcement of a legal dualism in governance, and a bifurcation between civil and customary law. In view of the history culminating in the split of Sudan into two countries, North and South Sudan are reflective of Africa's crises and promises in the twenty-first century. Keywords: North/South Sudancolonialismcrisis of citizenshippolitical violencenation-buildingNew Sudan Framework Acknowledgement The author would like to thank Rose Jaji, University of Zimbabwe, and Tijana Gligorevic, Roseman University of Health Sciences, for their insightful comments and constructive feedback on the earlier draft of this article. This paper was submitted for the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA)'s XIIIth General Assembly: Africa and the Challenges of the Twenty-First Century, December 5–9, 2011 in Rabat, Morocco. Notes CPA Chapter I: Machakos Protocol, Machakos, Kenya, signed on 20 July 2002. In this paper, Sudan refers to pre-secession Sudan. The Republic of Sudan refers to North Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan refers to Southern Sudan in the post-CPA era. Thomas Johnson and Graham's Lessee v. William M'Intosh. 1823. 21 US 543, Cherokee Nation v. State of Georgia. 1831. 21 US 543, and Samuel Worcester v. State of Georgia. 1832. 31 US 515. Mamdani makes a distinction between market-based identities, culture-based identities, and political identities. The latter is a product of the modern state. Political identities are inscribed in law. In the first instance, they are legally enforced. Chapter II: Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy Paragraph 14 Section (3) of the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria and 3rd Schedule, Item C-Federal Character Commission Section 7(1) and Paragraph 8 Section (1). Chapter II: Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy, Paragraph 14 Section (3) states 'The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies'. Paragraph 7 Section (1) establishes the Federal Character Commission and states 'The Federal Character Commission shall comprise the following members: (a) a Chairman; and (b) one person to represent each of the states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja'. Paragraph 8 Section (1) empowers the Commission and states 'In giving effect to the provisions of Paragraph 14 section (3) and (4) of this Constitution, the Commission shall have the power to: (a) work out an equitable formula subject to the approval of the National Assembly for the distribution of all cadres of posts in the public service of the Federation and of the States, the armed forces of the Federation, the Nigeria Police Force and other government security agencies, government owned companies and parastatals of the states'. The three leading countries in numbers of refugees in Africa by the end of 2010 were the Republic of the Congo (442,200), Somalia (482,500), and Sudan (351,600) according to the UNHCR 2010 Report. To truly understand the genesis and genocidal impulse of colonialism, its institutional apparatuses which enabled indirect rule in Africa, one has to return to America and see how Settlers dealt with the Indian Question from a legal perspective. Three US Supreme Court cases provide the best examples of how law was instrumental to framing Native Americans, expropriating their lands, extinguishing their title of occupancy, which led to extinguishing a way of life and most of the people who inhabited it. The following cases are instructive of the genocidal impulse of colonialism: Johnson v. M'Intosh, 21 US 543, 5 L.Ed. 681, 8 Wheat. 543 (1823), Cherokee Nation v. Georgia State (1831), and Worcester v. State of Georgia (1832). Framing the conflict in Sudan as one between 'Arabs and Africans', 'Muslim and Christians', 'north and south' is misleading. Garang attempted to shift this paradigm by contextualising the conflict and providing an alternative history and causes of the conflict by linking the cause to a particular form of the state and demanding that power be fundamentally restructured. One of the successes of the SPLM/A under Garang was to redefine the problem in national rather than regional terms. Other scholars have also challenged the racialised history which has been dominant in the colonial and post-colonial period. For alternative explanations, see Mamdani (Citation2009), Idris (Citation2005), Garang (Citation1992), Deng (Citation1995), and Anderson (Citation1999). The current crisis in the disputed border regions and the violence in Darfur is illustrative of the tendency to consolidate an Arab identity while silencing other ethnicities in the North. South Kordofan and Darfur have some of the most diverse, multiethnic, plural communities in the north and west of Sudan. The government in Khartoum has been trying to group these diverse nationalities under one umbrella, Arabs. See footnote 8. CPA Chapter V: The Resolution of Conflict in Southern Kordofan/Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile States, signed in Naivasha, Kenya, on 26 May 2004. CPA Chapter V: The Resolution of Conflict in Southern Kordofan/Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile States, signed in Naivasha, Kenya, on 26 May 2004. The Department of African and African American Studies at Fordham University convened a one – day conference on Sudan's Post-Referendum Challenges and the future of its two regions on 9 April 2011, in New York City. Southern Sudan Referendum Act Citation2009, Article 25(1). Southern Sudan Referendum Act Citation2009, Part II: Referendum Register; voter's eligibility, Article 25(2). Southern Sudan Referendum Act Citation2009, Article 27(3). Southern Sudan Referendum Act Citation2009, Article 27(3), Par. A and B. Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan (Citation2011), Part I, Article 1(4). Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan (Citation2011), Article 26(1). Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan (Citation2011), Article 26(2). Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan (Citation2011), Article 27(1). Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan (Citation2011), Article 28(1). Eastern Equatoria State is home to the following ethnic groups: Didinga, Buya, Toposa, Nyangatom, Acholi, Madi, Dongotona, Lago, Lopi, and Pari. See footnote 5

Colonialism · Ethnology · Geography · Political science · State (computer science · Computer Science · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · History · Law · Political Conflict and Governance

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