Political partnership is a source of strength when it is based on ?equalitarianism,' truthfulness, sincerity and trust. However, it is a cause of weakness when it is based on the tyranny of ?majoritarianism,' deceitfulness, hypocrisy, and suspicions. When the NCP and SPLM agreed to sit down face-to-face in order to negotiate the CPA, most of Sudanese became happy.
A hope germinated in them with optimism that war is going to be only a past record in the historical document - never shall it be allowed to resurface again. H.E. President Al-Bashir addressed the gathering in Naivasha that the final protocol of the CPA marked the complete independence of the Sudan. H.E. Dr. Garang de Mabior also addressed the same gathering that Sudan has managed to surmount the last mountain that stood on the path of peace and development for decades. They moved all over the country (in their respective areas of control) telling the people about the good news of peace agreement after destructive darkness of civil wars.
On the ceremony of the final signing of the CPA document in Nyayo stadium in Nairobi amidst regional and international witnesses and at the presence of a crowded jubilant Sudanese, both Al-Bashir and Dr. Garang assured the gathering that they will hold together as strong partners to implement the CPA and make it an ownership of the Sudanese people. They promised that they are going to bring towns to the marginalized Sudanese villages. They raised high the expectations of the people, and as a result, Dr. Garang was massively and popularly welcomed in Khartoum by diverse Sudanese from all corners of the country as the hero of peace and hope for change. Even the Darfurians were carrying placards in the Green Square, reminding him not to forget them. They shouted at the top of their vices according to their written slogan: "Darfur, Darfur, Ya Doctor."
But the first question mark on SPLM-NCP partnership started in the NCP Headquarters that day when Dr. Garang was welcomed by his partners as a returnee. He reacted very fast and asked for a correction that he was not a returnee because he was coming from Rumbek in Southern Sudan, the temporary capital of the New Sudan. A day later, he was taken to the presidential palace to take his constitutional oath as the First Vice President of the Republic of the Sudan. Right from that day, the real test for SPLM-NCP partnership began. But and with terrible grief, the hero of peace could not live beyond twenty one days to finish the difficult test of implementing his dream of peace and development in the Sudan, based on democratic transformation and bill of rights that were ushered in by the CPA. His death left the SPLM in disarray to compete confidently as NCP true partners, except for few like Dr. Lam Akol, the Foreign Minister.
Most of those who took the lead of SPLM after Dr. Garang started to cry like babies who were bullied from time to time by the NCP cadres in the political cards of power interests. Some elements within the SPLM started to accuse their own cadres of being agents of NCP in the Government of National Unity because they are not doing what the so-called SPLM loyalists want. However, instead of those self-named loyalists taking the democratic route and influencing the policies in the cabinet, the presidency and in the parliament, they resorted to media campaigns against those pigheaded and hardworking cadres, threatening them with dismissal if they continue to be in good relation with NCP cadres and with Mr. President Al-Bashir. They started to ask for outside forces and friends to come to the rescue of what they called the fragile CPA.
Now, a critical person is forced to ask: Is partnership possible without friendship and cooperation? Obviously, it can not. Who is to blame for the disquiet which is happening between the two CPA partners? It is those who have welcomed hostility and said goodbye to friendship and cooperation within both SPLM and NCP. It is those who are meddling with peace, development and justice in Sudan through illegal practices of delay-and-selective-tactics of implementing the CPA. It is those who compromise the sovereignty of the country and ally with foreign governments and opposition political parties who are Ani-GoNU and who desire Khartoum's downfall. It is those who are bad wishers of peace and hard campaigners for war and doom in the Sudan.
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James Okuk is a PhD student in the University of Nairobi. He can be reached on
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