Sudan

The Palm House

0 Jan 09 2012 by Tarek Eltayeb

It was Eid al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice. I had been staying in the village of Wad al-Kababish, the one closest to where Wad al-Nar used to be, but separated from it by a vast desert. Exactly forty days had passed since the funeral I described. Quivering, I made my way through the crowds that stood in the shade like palm trees leaning over a riverbank in the morning. They were standing all in a row, as if they were waiting for God’s mercy to bring a ram down from heaven for them. But that didn’t happen. Walking through the village in my flowing white robe, I looked like the mast of a ship whose sails are caught in a gust of wind. Wad al-Kababish: of the ...

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New Texts Out Now: Khalid Medani, "Strife and Secession in Sudan"

0 Sep 07 2011 by Khalid Medani

Khalid Medani, “Strife and Secession in Sudan,” Journal of Democracy 22.3 (July 2011): 135-149. Jadaliyya: What made you write this article? Khalid Medani: I wrote the article “Strife and Secession in Sudan” because I felt very strongly that the analysis of the politics in Sudan has long been characterized by misrepresentations and simply a lack of understanding of the roots of the conflicts in the country and the problems having to do with the secession of South Sudan in the longer term. On the one hand, policymakers have been invested in overseeing the secession of the South based on their own calculations and geopolitical interests rather than those of the people ...

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An Old Regime in New Sudan: Politics After Secession

1 Aug 24 2011 by Jeffrey Sachs

[Omar al-Bashir. Image from unknown archive.]

The government of Sudan is entering into a period of extreme instability. When the newly independent country of South Sudan seceded from the north on 9 July, it left behind a political and economic system on the verge of collapse. Many of the same conditions that prevailed in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya on the eve of their popular protests are present in Sudan as well, including rising commodity prices, high unemployment, and spectacular examples of official corruption. President Omar al-Bashir is deeply unpopular in many parts of the country, and as the economy slows he will find it increasingly difficult to pay the wages of the country’s bloated security ...

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New Hope on the Nile

3 May 11 2011 by Ramzi El Houry

[Image from http://blog.gohoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/River-Nile-Egypt-Gohoto.jpg]

A new, post-Mubarak Egypt has given both Egyptians and other Arabs alike, hope that Egypt can once again reclaim its role as the focal point from which Arab culture and politics emanate. The opening up of the Rafah border crossing into Gaza and the active promotion of a unity government in the Palestinian Territories are both indications that this is slowly happening. However, Egypt’s regional affiliation is not only with the Middle East, but extends towards its riparian partners along the Nile as well. And on that front, events in the immediate months after the fall of Mubarak indicated that an Egypt in transition, unable to take firm political positions, could be taken ...

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Democracy Now! Interview with Mahmood Mamdani on Regional Implications of NATO Intervention

1 Sep 14 2011 by Jadaliyya Reports

This is an interview conducted with Mahmood Mamdani on Wednesday, 14 September, in regards to recent developments in Libya and Sudan. The interview addresses the implications of NATO's intervention in Libya and the independence of South Sudan, highlighting the regional implications for the African continent. As the African Union meets today, Columbia University professor and Africa scholar Mahmood Mamdani joins us to give his take on the regional and global implications of NATO’s intervention in Libya, ...

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Sudan: Slippery Slope

0 Aug 25 2011 by Jean-Baptiste Gallopin

After three months of conflict in the Nuba Mountains of Southern Kordofan, the Sudanese authorities on 23 August declared a temporary ceasefire. This was despite the failure two days earlier of another round of peace talks between the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army – North (SPLM/A-N)1 and the ruling National Congress Party (NCP). Given the deep mistrust between the parties and the rampant militarization of the area, the fighting could well resume over the coming weeks. The initial phase of ...

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South Sudan: Post-Independence Opportunities and Challenges

0 Aug 01 2011 by Khalid Tajani El-Nour

The independence of South Sudan, and the birth of the fifty-fourth state on the African continent, is a pivotal and historic event for the state of Sudan, and for the continent as a whole. The significance of the event goes beyond a mere change in the geographical boundaries of the divided country and the end of an era in its political history; its consequences will necessarily result in long-term change in the geopolitical realities of the region, and will lead to the emergence of new strategic ...

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The Arabs in Africa

15 Mar 01 2011 by Callie Maidhof

As Libyans rise up against the 41-year-old dictatorship of Muammar al-Qaddafi, one of the most striking claims of state violence has been the hiring of “African mercenaries” to crush the revolt. Like Hosni Mubarak’s “thugs” (or baltagiya in Arabic, terms that gained widespread currency almost instantly), the mercenaries represent the anti-populist face of violence, those who are willing to take to the streets not for reasons of personal conviction or national duty, but for compensation from the embattled ...

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