SPLM should not Coalesce with Anti CPA Parties

By James Okuk

The SPLM/A was formed as a political and a military movement to paralyze the powers and activities of Sudan government through tactical guerrilla attacks, destructions or resistance. Its strategy was to weaken or overthrow the central government in Khartoum by liberating the marginalized Sudanese people in the periphery and empowering them through decentralization and devolution of power, wealth and security (stability).

The SPLM used combined methods of military insurgency, popular uprisings, diplomatic pressure and political negotiations to achieve that aim. As Karl Marx called the alienated workers of the world to unite against the exploitative bourgeoisie, so did SPLM/A called the marginalized people of the Sudan to unite against the unjust central government in Khartoum. As Marx assured the workers that their struggle shall bear its fruits once the proletariats take over the government after the revolution, so did SPLM/A leadership assured its strugglers that they shall no longer be oppressed once they removed the dominating élites in Khartoum and their stooges at the periphery. Though the Umma Party and the DUP were anti-SPLM/A when they were in the government, they later decided to join hand with it in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) when they were dismissed by the NIF from the palace. The main aim for forming the NDA was to overthrow the NCP government and bring the lost democracy back to the country.

However, with its ‘Islamic Direction’ and ‘Arabs Civilization Project’, the NCP managed to rally behind them the radical Islamists all over the world to support the new Islamic regime in the Sudan. They declared Holy War (Jihad) against the SPLM/A with the aim of eliminating it totally in any territory of the Sudan. However, it did not take them very long to split into two, with their chief ideologue Al-Turabi running away with the Popular Congress faction and leaving H.E. Al-Bashir with the NCP faction. The Popular Congress Party runs to SPLM/A for a memorandum of understanding in combined political struggle to remove the military-security-oriented NCP from government power. But to avoid any terrible possible collapse, the NCP thought twice and sought to negotiate peace with SPLM/A who was also fatigued by the elongation of the struggle and internal splits. The two sides realized the impossibility of the defeat because of the international invisible hands behind their warfare management.

In 2005 NCP and SPLM agreed to come up with CPA and create partnership for implementing it. They also agreed to invite other political parties to join them and practice their shares in power that has been allocated them as their rights in the country. They further agreed to try that partnership for three years and divorce (through the mid-term general elections) if they found it unworthy to keep, but on a condition that the CPA will remain intact. Nonetheless, from the kick off of the implementation trial the two partners went into struggle of proving who the husband is and who the wife is in their partnership house: NCP took the dominate role of a man in GoNU while the SPLM took it in the GoSS. The NCP even declared after three years of that trial that it will be ready to occupy opposition benches in the country if the Sudanese decided to vote them out of power in 2009 election. SPLM has not declared any democratic stand like that and it is doubted whether they will be ready to accept opposition identity if at all people voted them out of the government.

Now with the disquiet of dissatisfaction which is taking place between the Naivasha’s Partners, a big test sheet is put in their front to decide which safer way to go and lesser evil accept in 2009 general elections. But since each of them draws the strength and legitimacy from the CPA, it would be a risk for any to abandon the partnership and go to look for other unreliable allies like the NDA. SPLM knew it very well that the NDA was only a tactical ally for weakening Khartoum by the time of the armed struggle but not now. Though SPLM was a member of NDA, it preferred to negotiate the CPA alone in the context of Southern Sudan, Blue Nile (Ingassina), Southern Kordofan (Nuba Mountains) and Abyei Area. The other members of NDA were not happy about that and refused to fully endorse the CPA and participate in the interim government.

The UMMA and the DUP parties consider the CPA as good for nothing, except for stopping insurgency in Southern Sudan even if there is no peace there yet. Instead, they have been calling for the revision of the CPA, particularly the Self-determination and status of SPLA as an independent army in Southern Sudan. Now in this case can SPLM trust NDA in the coming 2009 elections when the de facto situation is that NDA got divorced and buried in Naivasha? Will it not be looking for trouble to try to dig out the dead from the grave in order to establish a drowning coalition? Let NDA finds it own way somewhere else but not with the SPLM. Let SPLM not shy away from continuing to share its lion broth with the NCP for the next three years and in preparation for the departure of South Sudan in 2011 from the forced unattractive unity.

*James Okuk is a PhD student in the University of Nairobi. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.