– A NATION DIVIDED
SUDAN is one of the poorest countries in Africa and among the poorest in the world. One major reason for its high level of poverty is the fact that the country is highly polarized mainly along ethnic lines with allegations of discrimination by the Muslim-dominated North against the South which  comprises mainly  Christians. The North/South divide is basically a division among Christians and Muslims.
Because of this perception of exploitation of the South by the North, there has been, over the years, serious tensions and conflicts which had claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Sudanese.

QUOTE:‘I have always maintained that there is a fair measure of ethnic tolerance and harmony in Guyana which cannot be said of many other countries with multi-racial populations. This is because of the conscious and deliberate actions of the PPP/C administration to ensure that there is fair and equitable distribution of the resources and benefits that the State has to offer.’

In fact, Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al Bashir is wanted in the Hague for genocide, a claim which he vociferously denied. Interestingly, he recently won the general elections held recently and is currently the President of Sudan.

This status, however, will not last for long as the country is now on the verge of being divided in a referendum which was won by South Sudan’s leader Salva Kiir who won close to 99% of the votes in favour of a division. This effectively meant that a new state is being born.

The news has been greeted with much joy and happiness by the South who felt that the North were exploiting the resources of the South without giving back a fair share of the resources taken away from them. It was this perception that was at the root of the decision taken by the South to press for a referendum to seek independence from the North.

No one likes the idea of a divided nation. History has recorded several great nations that fell apart because of ethnic rivalries between significant segments of the population.

The division of India was very painful for the majority of Indians but it became a reality after the differences between Hindus and Muslims became entrenched. Pakistan, which became home to Muslims was also divided into two with Bangladesh becoming an independent state.

As mentioned earlier, South Sudan voted overwhelmingly to declare independence in final results of a referendum which cleared the way for the creation of Africa’s newest state. A total of 98.3 % of voters from Sudan’s oil-producing south voted to secede from the North in the referendum according to final results released by the elections commission.

As expected, hundreds of South Sudanese danced openly in the streets and waved flags as the announcement was made. Of course it was not altogether joy as in the case of a northern Sudanese woman who wept uncontrollably at the news, asking herself why the country had to be divided since she has relatives in the south.

The referendum resulted from a north-south peace accord to bring an end to Africa’s longest civil war and hopefully usher in a new chapter of democratic rule in the country. The Sudanese President, to his credit, agreed to accept the results of the referendum although he did all he could to persuade Sudanese to vote against the division of the country.

The name of the new country is still to be decided. South Sudan’s leader was also conciliatory in his victory speech and pledged to cooperate with the north in calling for debt relief and the easing of international sanctions imposed by some western nations against the country.

The new state has already received the blessings of a number of leading western countries including the United States and the European Union(EU), both of which have recognized the results of the referendum. According to a statement from the EU, it looks forward to working with the new administration. Similar sentiments were expressed by the President who congratulated the Sudanese President for accepting the results of the referendum.

The lesson of Sudan is instructive for other plural societies where there are significant minority groups. In Guyana, which is also a plural society, we have fairly good inter-ethnic relations with the Guyana Government making every effort to ensure that it governs in a very even-handed manner. In order to ensure that there is no discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity, the PPP/C administration has set up an Ethnic Relations Commission where complaints of ethnic discrimination could be taken up and appropriate action taken within the framework of the applicable laws.

There is also the Racial Hostility Act which makes it an offence for any individual or group to promote racism or racist remarks in our society.

I have always maintained that there is a fair measure of ethnic tolerance and harmony in Guyana which cannot be said of many other countries with multi-racial populations.

This is because of the conscious and deliberate actions of the PPP/C administration to ensure that there is fair and equitable distribution of the resources and benefits that the State has to offer.