A Brief Encounter with the Sudan (Sudan and South Sudan) Alternative History

A Brief Encounter with the Sudans Alternative History

By Osama Mahmoud

… With an open access to Sudan history, Mary was given an unprecedented access to the Sudan’s entire history. However, she was allowed to alter/change one event only.  At the beginning the mission seemed straight forward, but as she started to map out her plan, the complexity of the conundrum was unfolding before her eyes. The questions were where should I start? Now?, 50 years ago?, 100?, or 300 years ago? Did we even exist as a country or countries back then?, and Who are ‘we’?The blurred  thoughts had lead her to consider very recent events such as Sudan succession, Sudan problems in the east, west and south, the current regime, war and famine?

100s of years ago, the colonial power, the British empire, the Arab arrival to Sudan, Christianity and Islam conquering the region, slavery, kingdoms, and so many events and key players shaped the country/ies past, present and future.

After major deliberations between Mary and herself, a conscious decision was taken. Mary took Moses famous stick and poked the colonial power to alter their choice of capital.  After the battle of Um Dibekrat 1899, a massacre as big as Karari was, Lord Kitchener decided it is high time to shift the country’s focal point in term of resources, services and jurisdictions from Khartoum to Juba. Approval came from her majesty Queen Victoria’s appointed government.  The empire on which the sun never sets.

A brief background about Mary may shed the light on her inform choice and unfold the mystery behind her decision.

Mary Joseph Dew, her Christian name. Her real African name is Akwal. She was born and bred in the south district of Khartoum City, in Arkaweet, square 70. Later on the years, the area was named Alma’mura. She was a result of her father’s plural marriage. In a search for security and a better life, her father moved his two wives and eleven offsprings to Alma’mura in the late seventies. At the time the majority of the people had chosen to live there to seek work in construction, in form of manual labour. Akwal was the youngest of her entire family. She was born in August the 19th, 1988. The infamous night where 100s of mud houses and tents belonging to the poorest of society were either swept away or leveled down by the sheer force of what it seemed to be an unequivocal monsoon season. The main concern was the safety of the new born. At the time the area covered square 73 to 81 was considered as not attractive for new buyers, mainly Sudanese professionals working abroad.  Therefore, people who has been living there without permission had to submit an appeal to local councils to get settled in the unwanted territories. The qualified person had to have a family and most importantly have to be Sudanese. From this prospective, Akwal father was ticking all the boxes, at least the visible ones. He was placed in a long waiting list, even though he was one of the earliest applicants. He tried to chase, sue, save a year worth of manual labour to pay a local authority workers a bribe. All the efforts, legal and otherwise deemed unsuccessful. He realised at the time there were two tier systems and he does not belong to either of them.  He accepted the inevitable, the injustice in that part of the world.  His final attempt was to take his new born Akwal with him to the local authorities to further prove his desperate need for the piece of land.  This time he faced refusal from officials.  The next few days, the old man managed to secure a house guard position.  A house owner was visiting Sudan from abroad. He was not happy with his brother’s management of the house and its belongings.  The house was not complete; the owner kept sending thousands of Sudanese pounds and his house status remained the same.  Joseph became his confidant and construction consultant.  For the next twenty years, the family grew; the father and the mother became grandparent.  The kids became adults and moved out yet another journey in search for stability and job security. Akwal remained with her parent.  Money has become a major issue at the mid nineties.  Therefore, Akwal was forced to dropout of school and was working as a house keeper to earn money so she could feed her father and ailing mother.  At a tender age, she learned the cruelty of poverty.  She witnessed her peers, young girls, non southerners, go to school every morning, whilst she had to start her day by cleaning marble floors, before hand washing pile of dirty clothes and dishes, and preparing meals.  A regular day in a life of a young person born on the wrong side of the track and cripple by poverty. Injustice was a bitch too.  From the National Health Service, to the justice system, governmental offices, even to the street, everywhere was infested by injustice.  She was screaming to herself “CITIZEN AND NOT SUBJECT”.  Every night, from 8 PM onwards, Akwal finishes work, heads home to prepare a meal for her parent, before heading to the neighbour’s house, another underprivileged family from Kordufan, Mesaria Zurug, to watch the very important 9 PM TV slot, The mighty Egyptian TV series. This was at a time when the governing National Islamic Front (NIF) imposed radical censorship on civil liberties including heavy restrictions on TV programmes . Notably the case of government of Sudan versus the Egyptian actress Lyla Elwi knee skirt. Her mighty legs/ “pins” were blurred using special effect.  Few years later, Sudan entered a deep economic turmoil. Inflation was at the roof.  Properties were in demand, and Alma’mura all of the sudden was dubbed as the place to live in.

This in turn forced many guards to seek living somewhere else as home owners were either selling/ renting or for those who living abroad, they were returning back to the country.  The house skeleton where Akwal family lived in for years was complete.  It became a monument.  The owner passed away and his family was going through a complex inheritance battle.  Long story short, their grievances were that the dead father left clear will stating that siblings have equal shares of the house stake. The boys were not having that.  They took the matter to the family court demanding the Shari’aa inheritance law to be applied so they could end up having twice the share of their sisters.

Akwal and her family were promised an end of service fee, however, after the recent court case; they opted not to ask for the money to avoid being Schumbaris*, in the word of the Sicilian.

Going back to the hypothetical offer which was given to Akwal, to alter/change one event in Sudan history, she decided to change the capital from Khartoum to Juba. Fast forward to 1956, the British decided to hand over Sudan responsibility to the people next in line, the people with whom they worked closely in the years commencing 1899 monumental events. The southerners inherited Sudan’s governance.  They were the dominant force. Although they decided to share the running of the country with others by having semi autonomous departments, seven in the whole of Sudan.

After being the first people to taste the fruitfulness of independence, Akwal ancestors managed through their influences to set the following as standards for the entire country:

1) Their cultures

2) Languages

3) Accent

4) Skin colour

Etc…

Eventually, wars took place around the country only this time it was far away from Akwal’s homeland.

Resudan Blog^[1]

References

1. ^{^} Resudan Blog (resudan.wordpress.com)