Introduction
It is important to look and analyse the politics in Sudan due to the humanitarian need in the country. In Darfur, the Northern Part has been accused of Genocide against the Black Sudanese. The situation is critical. Over 2 million people have been displaced. Over 3 million people in the area are dependent on international humanitarian groups to give them food aid. Many people have been killed, raped and chased from their homeland. They have fled to neighbouring countries such as Kenya to live as refugees in their pursuit of a peaceful environment (Paglia, 2007). The country is wealthy in natural resources with oil being one of its greatest assets. Oil mines are in the Southern State of Sudan where the Black Sudanese have settled.
The government of Sudan however is mainly made up of the Arabs who seek to control all the oil resources even though they have settled in the Northern part of the country. The conflict in the area is due to the fight of economic resources between the two groups. There is unfair distribution of the economic resources, inequality and marginalisation of certain groups of people. This has led to power that is exploitive in nature, genocide and a political revolution (Paglia, 2007). There are other secondary causes of the civil wars such as ethnic and religious differences (O’Brien, 1993). Sudan is made up of two distinct ethnic or racial groups. There are Black Sudanese who are predominantly Christian and the Arabs who are Muslims.
Genocide
This occurs in a region or a country when a group of people decide to destroy another group of people through death and torture due to the different religious, ethnic or nationality.
Throughout history, when social conflict has erupted to uncontrollable proportions it has led to genocide. In the region of Darfur, conflict arose when the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equity Movement rose up in protest against the Sudanese government over their unequal distribution of resources by favouring the Arabs over the Africans.
The Sudanese military started fighting with the Southern armed groups. These acts led to genocide where there were over 200,000 victims while 2 million people were displaced. The government joined with the Arabic Janjaweed Militia to attack the Non-Arabic Sudanese settlements (Hagan & Rymond-Richmond, 2008). Their villages were wiped out, their women raped and the people killed. The people in the region faced starvation and death. The U.N and African Union peacekeeping corps and armies from Rwanda and Chad arrived in the region to assist in stabilising the situation. The displaced people in the region largely rely on humanitarian aid.
Power
Power can be defined as the ability of an individual to make certain decision and fulfils them. It also refers to the ability of an individual or group of people to influence others or control others. There are different sources of power. In Sudan, two sources of power have affected the politics of the country. The people who are wealthy and rich are powerful. They are able to control the other people in the population. People who are in political seats are also powerful. In the capitalist systems of the world, it is all about power as the rich, political elite control the rest of the population (Palermo, 2007)
Every institution or person bows to the individual who has economic or political power as these are the highest form of power. Someone who is powerful is able to exert his will upon the other individuals even if they arise in resistance. Their efforts to stop him are futile. In Sudan, there are the powerful elite Arabs who through political power control the countries resources. They are the ones who benefit from the presence of oil in Sudan. The Africans in the South do not benefit. From the beginning, after the independence of Sudan, the Africans did not participate in the formation of the new government leading to a civil war. The efforts by the government to make the whole country Arabic was perceived by the people as an effort to refuse multiculturalism and exercise domination. They introduced the Sharia Law and Islamic Banks. The government used its resources to develop the North while the South was left neglected. There was inequality in the distribution of resources in the region.
Political Revolution
Political revolutions occur in a nation or country when either certain people refuse to be dominated or when certain people want to take over the rulership of the region. The country of Sudan has experienced many political coups as different people try to have a government that will serve their interests. The first war broke out as the African Christians wanted to be represented in the country’s political system. The country was not made up of only Arabs and Christians. Other wars have emerged due to the fight of economic resources. The government was not distributing resources equally throughout the country but instead was concentration only on certain regions. The political elites refused to let the local people and institutions control their regional resources towards their development.
Further disagreements in the region evidenced by rebel attacks and war have eventually led to the Southern Sudan achieving its independence from the North so that they rebuild their own region. It has been a long journey however that started in the 1950’s after the country got its independence. In 1972, the South united under the Joseph Lagu who signed a treaty with the government in Addis Abba and enabled the region to get a certain measure of regional autonomy. The president at that time however, Jaafar Nimeera in a bid to consolidate his power abolished the Addis Ababa agreements leading to fresh wars in the region.
The Social Conflict Theory and Sudan Politics
The social conflict theory is based on the Marxist concept. It states that the conflict in society arises out of people in the society having differing material and non-material resources. This leads to the powerful people exploiting the weaker in the society. There will be people living in extreme wealth and others are living hand to mouth. For the rich to continue being wealthy, there has to be exploitation of the poor.
This is known as the interdependence theory. There is also the exclusion theory, where certain people cannot access the goods and services, resources and opportunities that others have. Finally there is the appropriation concept, where in a an exploitive system, the rich have surplus resources to invest and become richer while the poor have enough for just mere existence.
In life generally, what one owns economically is what determines whether they will have access to certain opportunities. This leads back to the concept of power. One of the main sources of power is wealth. In Sudan, the Arab Elite in government positions continue to ensure that only the capital and certain areas have access to economic resources. The people who are marginalized find themselves facing dire conditions such as drought or famine with no one to assist them. There comes a time when the oppressed people fight for an overhaul of the current system in order to bring in a political system that will ensure equal distribution of resources and equal representation in the political system.
In every system where a certain class of people is exploited by others, there is bound to arise conflict within the system that will eventually lead to its demise. The oppressed people would eventually find the strength to emancipate themselves from the continued political, social and economic oppression. The Southern Sudan area is an area that is underdeveloped in comparison to the North. The North has high infrastructure investments and international linkages and trade while the South has low development. However the South is rich in mineral resources which are controlled by the political system. The North has lower ethnic diversity than the South which has more tribes settled in the area. The unequal distribution of resources goes to fuel the underlying ethnic and racial tension in the region leading to higher incidences of social conflict.
Conclusion
Social Conflict in Sudan over the years has arisen due to the differences in allocation of economic resources between the tribes or ethnic tribes in Sudan. Since independence, the Arab elites have been in positions of political power deciding how economic resources will be distributed in the country. The North has been favoured with development in infrastructure while the South has seen little economic development. Though the South is rich in oil and other resources, their local political systems were replaced by the government systems which had a lot of the Northern people in control. The events of this country confirm the concept of the social conflict theory. The theory puts forward that where there are differences in economic resources, it creates social classes of wealthy and poor people. The rich exploit the poor.
There is bound to arise serious conflicts between the two social classes. In Sudan, the social conflict has led to several civil wars, liberation of Southern Sudan, the Darfur genocide and slow economic development of the overall country’s infrastructure. Where there is no peace, there is slow economic development.
The social and economic inequalities led to the Darfur genocide, as armed groups arose to protest the state of affairs in the country. Over 2,000,000 million people have been displaced, many people killed and women gang-raped. In 2011, the Southern Sudan region finally acquired its independence and the right to have a say in the distribution of its economic resources. The region has always been fighting for its independence due to frustration with the predominantly Arabic government. It is important for the governments of the world to always ensure fair distribution of resources. Secondly, every region should be represented in the country’s political system. Sudan’s government attempts to run the country like an Islamic Arab State contributed to the conflict in the region as the African Christian groups felt isolated and alienated(Brubaker & Laitin, 1998).
They did not feel part of their own country and arose in protest. All efforts at team building should be an all-inclusive exercise of all the people in that specified region.
As I conducted this research, I have learn that causes of conflict, war and genocide in countries is due to one social class, race or tribe desiring to have dominance over a group that are different. Greed and acts of exploitation over certain people eventually leads to a political revolution through coups, civil war or attacks by rebels. To make the world a safer place, every country should ensure there is equitable distribution of resources over all the regions in the country and every social class. The people should not struggle to satisfy their basic needs of food, shelter and clothing. All people should also be included in the political administration of the country. This will eliminate people from a certain tribe or religion from feeling alienated and abandoned. An equitable system is always the best.
References:
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Sociology, 24, 423-452
Hagan, J. & Rymond-Richmond, W. (2008) The Collective Dynamics of Racial
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Paglia, P. (2007) Ethnicity and Tribalism: are these the Root Causes of
the Sudanese Civil Conflicts? African conflicts and the Role of Ethnicity: a Case Study of Sudan. Africa Economic Analysis. Retrieved from:
http://www.africaeconomicanalysis.org/articles/pdf/sudan0807.pdf
Palermo, G. (2007). The Ontology of Economic Power in Capitalism: Mainstream
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O’Brien, J. (1993). Ethnicity, National Conflict and Social Conflict. Nordic Journal of
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