A New book by Dr. Lam Akol

Colonialism, Resistance and Autonomy (book)

by Lam Akol

This is the dramatic political history of the makings of Southern Sudan, from colonialism in 1898, to resistance from the 1950s, and self-autonomy from 1972, closing in 1983 with the collapse of the Addis Ababa peace agreement. Southern Sudan Colonialism, Resistance and Autonomy is the first academic treatment of the subject.

The book shows for the first time how the rivalry between the partners in the condominium leading up to independence benefited the Northern parties, who allied themselves to either the British or the Egyptians. The demand for independence in Khartoum in 1955 took the South by surprise. The Southerners insisted on the promise of federalism, which the Northern political parties agreed upon but did not deliver.

The Southern political consciousness awakened in the early 1950s generated the calls for self-government. The demand for self-determination came later, because the government failed to recognise the Southerners? demands. To assert themselves, the people of the South took up arms. Even separation, which is now discussed for South Sudan, was unheard of then. The North saw the Southerners? demand for federation as a betrayal of Sudan, and the possible cause for the disintegration of the country.

In the historical context, the Addis Ababa Agreement of 1972 was a significant achievement for the South. Its non-implementation produced the popular armed uprising that launched in 1983. This book serves as a lesson for the current implementation of the Naivasha peace agreement, and the forthcoming ballot scheduled for 2011 on South Sudan?s separation.

In writing this book, the author discovered the French-Shilluk Agreement of 1898 in the French archives in Paris, which shows that before the confrontation with the British at Fashoda that year, France had intentions to establish South Sudan as their own area of influence, which if realised would have resulted in a completely different situation today.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LAM AKOL graduated from the University of Khartoum in engineering in 1975, then obtained an MEng at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh in 1977. In 1980 he earned his PhD at Imperial College, London. From 1980 to 1986 he lectured at the University of Khartoum?s Faculty of Engineering, following which he joined the SPLM/SPLA. The author has been involved in politics since he was fifteen. After the peace agreement of 1997 he was Minister of Transport from 1998 until 2002. He was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in September 2005. Dr Lam Akol?s previous books are SPLM/SPLA: Inside an African Revolution (Khartoum University Press, 2001), and its sequel SPLM/SPLA: The Nasir Declaration (iUniverse, 2003).