By Gamal Nkrumah (photo: Mohamed Moss'ad) Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) leader John Garang has warned that the large quantities of petroleum and natural gas found in the border area between northern and southern Sudan could transform the Sudanese economy and entrench the regime in power. The SPLA and other Sudanese opposition forces of the umbrella organisation, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), meeting in Cairo for the first time last week, put the issue on the top of their agenda. The SPLA is engaged in a race against time to stop National Islamic Front (NIF) government forces and their local tribal allies from starting commercial production of oil. "Well, for sure we are not going to let them pump the oil," Garang told Al-Ahram Weekly. With the discovery of economically viable quantities of petroleum in southern Sudan, the stage for ethnic conflict in Sudan has tragically been set. Arabic-speaking tribal militias, backed by government forces, are on the boards and the southern Sudanese cast is in the wings. The tinder has unwittingly been provided by the National Islamic Front (NIF) government of Sudan, led by Hassan Al-Turabi, which is instigating tribal wars in the oil-producing areas. In Cairo, Garang met representatives of Arabic-speaking Rizaigaat and Misairia tribesmen who have traditionally paid allegiance to the Umma Party. The meeting between Garang and the tribal leaders was important because, until quite recently, the Rizaigaat and Misairia traditionally raided the tribal lands of southern Sudanese ethnic groups such as the Dinka. In the past, the Rizaigaat and Misairia tribal militias were armed by successive military and civilian governments to fight the SPLA. The meeting between Garang and the tribal chiefs was meant to heal the rift between the two warring groups and ensure that they, as allies within the NDA, pool their resources to fight the NIF. The meeting was one of several fringe meetings that took place at the NDA conference in Cairo. "The Rizaigaat and Misairia tribes inhabit manateq iltemas, the area where the northern Arabic-speaking tribes and southern non-Arab tribes meet," Garang said. "There is a common resource to all tribes in the area, a river called Bahr Al-Arab by the Arabic-speaking tribes. To the Dinka it is the Kiir River. There are traditional conflicts over water and grazing rights, normally resolved through tribal mechanisms for conflict resolution. The NIF government has taken advantage of this traditional mode [of ending disputes] by using the Rizaigaat and Misairia tribal militias to fight the SPLA and the Dinka people of southern Sudan. Today, here in Cairo, we sat down with the Rizaigaat and Misairia tribal leaders to resolve the conflict." But weren't these same tribal militias used by Sadiq Al-Mahdi to fight the SPLA in the past? "The Rizaigaat and Misairia tribal leaders we spoke to are members of the Umma Party," Garang said. "There is no contradiction. They are today part of the NDA and are working with us to topple the NIF regime. We are trying to find modalities of a solution to resolve the conflict between the Dinka, Nuer and Nuba mountain tribes on the one hand, and the Baggara, Rizaigaat and Misairia on the other." Adds Garang: "The use of the tribal militias by the NIF government is part of the strategy to control the oil-producing areas. It is not only Arabic-speaking tribes against southern Sudanese tribes. The Bentiu oil-producing areas lie within the Nuer tribal areas. The NIF government uses the militia of Paulino Matip, who is a Nuer, against Reik Machar, also an ethnic Nuer. The Sudanese government's policy is based on divide-and-rule tactics and is aimed at replacing recalcitrant tribal leaders with more pliant ones like [Reik] Machar." Machar, Garang's former deputy, is currently president of the pro-government Southern Sudan States Coordination Council, which signed a peace agreement with Khartoum in April. Fighting between Machar and Matip has resulted in the loss of over 70,000 lives. "It is a callous game and callous use of people against each other for their own evil political ends," Garang said, pointing out that both Machar and Matip are government lackeys. Turning to the devastating famine in south Sudan, and particularly in Bahr Al-Ghazal, Garang also blamed the NIF government. "You have a situation where there is a drought for three consecutive years. Nature took the crops away. Government policies and militias took the cattle, too. What is happening in Bahr Al-Ghazal is a callous and calculated mass genocide campaign by the NIF regime. "Khartoum has clearly stated that it is not interested in the people; it is interested in the land. We are very concerned about genocide. The Dinka people live on two things: cattle and crops. If you deprive them of cattle and crops, the Dinka people die. Fighting and bloodshed, too, have taken a heavy toll." The Egyptian media has quoted President Hosni Mubarak as urging NDA leaders to "stop the bloodshed and fighting" and to "work sincerely to achieve Sudanese unity". Garang stressed that peace and unity can only be based on equality and justice. "It was not put in those terms," he said. "President Mubarak's concern was twofold: the unity of Sudan and the necessity for Sudan to live in peace and with its neighbours. We assured President Mubarak on both counts. The SPLA is totally committed to unity. Peace depends on the NIF regime. If they persist in their policies of establishing a theocratic state and exporting terrorism, there will be no peace in Sudan. You cannot simply surrender in order to have peace. Peace must be based on justice and equality for all Sudanese." Garang described the Sudanese government as a "treacherous regime" and cautioned Egypt and other Sudanese neighbours against trusting the NIF. "Their main objective is to export their brand of Islamic fundamentalism and international terror. The Sudanese government will not honour any agreement nor alter its policy of destabilising its neighbours. They just want to buy time," Garang said. What about charges that the SPLA is backed by the United States? Garang said that he had had "fruitful meetings" with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Susan Rice in the past few months. Albright has explicitly stated that her main objective in East Africa is a policy of containment of the NIF. But Garang stressed that the SPLA does not coordinate policies with the US or any other power. There have been reports in the media about alleged differences between the SPLA and some of their allies within the NDA, especially with Al-Mahdi. Some reports have insinuated that there is a lack of trust between the SPLA and the Umma Party. Garang did not deny the fact that differences in opinion, strategies and visions for a "new Sudan" exist. But, in his interview with the Weekly, he said that both the SPLA and other groups within the NDA are working towards building trust. "Trust is not a static thing. Trust is something that you can work towards. We are neither in hypothetical position 'A' of no trust at all, nor in position 'B' of full trust. We are somewhere between points A and B. We are working towards a relationship based on trust, but we are not there yet."
