Finding. Funding.Promoting.

“After many years they sent us a ‘medical caravan’ because they know now that there is no tension and the area is calm.” Naema – a local midwife

Last month in a dusty village in South Kordofan a healthcare ‘caravan’ arrived to provide medical services to two tribes. The caravan stayed for three days and as the people received care and attention they told stories of the hardship they had suffered. A young woman named Handi told of her sadness of loosing her baby after bleeding for seven days before anyone could find transport to take her to the nearest health service.

Sudan suffers some of the most extreme poverty on earth. In these remote villages people live in grass huts and there is no sanitation, health service or formal education. As Handi’s story shows a traveling healthcare caravan provides a life saving service, and yet this is the first time in over 5 years that the caravan has been able to visit. Conflict had torn the communities apart and made it unsafe for anyone to travel through the area.

Up until the end of the civil war these two tribes had lived side by side, they shared land, water and married between tribes. But cattle raiding between the two tribes became common and farmers armed themselves to protect their scarce resources. The true tragedy of this story is there is a water dam in the land between the two tribes and the surrounding land is the most fertile in the area. For over five years women had to walk over 8 miles each day to find an alternative source of water, and the land which could have fed both of the tribes lay unfarmed.

The Collaborative for Peace in Sudan set up a Peace Committee in the area, and was quickly approached by community members from both tribes. They all spoke of huge gatherings in the past, the dancing and celebrations when they saw each other, and they asked the committee to help this happen again.

“ We saw you come from far away to help us. We said to ourselves, we should feel ashamed, we are here we should work seriously for peace” Dawood – village teacher

On 7 April the committee arranged for the two tribes to meet again. Vehicles are uncommon in the area, and most people travel by donkey, camel or on foot, so the committee organised for trucks to help transport the people. Over 500 men women and children made the two hour journey to visit their neighbouring tribe – a journey none of them had made in over 5 years. Over two days the people of the two tribes talked, discussed and found solutions. The talks were lengthy but as one tribal elder said, ‘ This is our chance to change our community with our own hands.’

At the end of the two days, the Collaborative gave each tribe some funds to buy seeds so that in May they were able to plant their land. The two communities number about 5000 people and this land can provide enough crops to feed their families and some extra to sell at market.

Rasha El Fangry, the co-ordinator for the Collaborative returned to the area earlier this month, the benefits of peace could be seen everywhere. She learnt of how the two tribes had together approached the local commissioner to petition for the health caravan to visit and of how they were working together to make real improvements in their lives.

“Now I am able to take my goats and move from one place to another with no fear. I am happy.’ Mahamood – village iman

A basic economy is beginning to thrive and members of the different tribes are able to travel freely to visit one another. A ‘family day’ was organised for all communities in the district to come together in celebration, and people from neighbouring communities, including the media, are able to visit, so their region does not get lost to conflict.

“My son has come from the city to help me with farming” Halima – village singer

It cost less that £2000 for the Collaborative to fund this intervention – just 40 pence for each of the 5000 people who have benefitted so much from the peace it has bought.

The Collaborative for Peace in Sudan has set up 8 peace committees like this across Blue Nile and South Kordofan. Over the next year they plan to set up 8 more. Please make a gift today and help these communities to lead themselves out of conflict.

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Election fever
In the thick of Jonglei many people turned out for the elections, many excited and yet at the same time sad and angry.

The excitement was caused by the furore around the elections, it is a first for many of us, and many of us since birth have never experienced such an exercise. There was also a lot of sadness and anger as many others could not get their names on the registers, and many people were left to walk many miles from centre to centre in search of their names. Those who found their names were made to stand in long queues, even women who had had no choice but to bring their babies with them. This so far is the most complex election exercise I have ever encountered within the region with individuals having to vote multiple times, and even with an extension, it was not enough to ease the burden.

There was and still is a very heavy police presence, and there are also some plaincloth security agents within the centres. We were met with brute force twice when my Coordinator Mr. Koang tried to take pictures of the exercise. Anyone who had a camera was supposed to have been given an ID by the NEC. It has been very frustrating especially to those who were meant to be monitoring and reporting on the elections since no one with a camera was allowed to get close enough to the voting centres. Even phones were being searched for cameras.

Yet even with the volatile state of Jonglei, the exercise went ahead and exceeded our expectations.

I am now on my way from Ayod County heading towards Juba; hoping that the announcements of the winners and victors of this exercise will not plunge us into deeper and murkier waters.

All that is left now is to wait and get the final and official confirmation, the rest will be left for us to judge and any comment stemming from the same will only serve to strengthen the resolve of the people towards a more democratic space and possibly a democratic government and leadership.

George O’Ngoha
SWIDAP/CfPS
Ayod south constutuency
Ayod county- Jonglei state
South Sudan

(Additional information and reporting done by John Koang and his JCEP team leaders)

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As the voting kicked off on the 11th of April many Sudanese voters turned up to cast their votes for the first time in the history of southern Sudan. However many of the polling stations did not open in time, some opening at 10am, others at midday, and still others not at all that day. Reasons given were missing ballot papers or missing voter registration books.

The delays led to frustrations as many voters were left waiting. Just finding your name in the huge lists outside polling station was challenge enough. It took me 3 hours and 6 different polling stations before I could find mine.

Plain clothed security personnel patrolled the polling stations, and on Tuesday in South Kator they arrested 19 of the domestic observers. We approached the head of security personnel and the observers were released – but no reason was given for their arrest.

Counting begins tomorrow and I’ll keep you up to date with progress.

Taban Kiston Santo
Collaborative for Peace in Sudan
Juba

This Sunday will bring the first democratic elections in 24 years to Sudan. Local Peacebuilder Rasha El Fangry reports from Sudan:

In Khartoum there is a prevailing sense that the rolling party will win, and so the elections do not seem important. Yet outside of Khartoum there is more confidence that other candidates could win.

However as the leaders of the larger parties withdraw one after the other from the election process, that confidence is diminishing. Most of the large parties have now withdrawn from the process, with the exception of the Democratic Unionist Party. The Carter Centre has questioned the readiness of the Sudanese election officials and this question is reflected on the ground. Nobody know if the commision has everything prepared for Sunday.

Sudan’s electoral commission has postponed local elections by two months in South Kordofan, the state which straddles the troubled Darfur region. There is concern that this is not for reasons of security but so that the governing party, the National Congress Party (NCP) can complete certain development projects – increasing their chance of re-election.

I have traveled all over South Kordofan in the last few weeks and across this vast area there is a lack of information, media coverage and transport. Many people do not know where to go to vote. Some say this is intentional – and that it is only supporters of the NCP who are fully informed of how and where to vote.

Rasha El fangry 09 April 2010

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In the latest controversy over Sudan’s first elections for 24 years, President Bashir questions the role of international election observers while the Carter Centre questions the readiness of Sudanese election officials. Surely the answer to both their concerns is to strengthen the ability of local people to assist and observe their own elections, on an independent basis and with a popular mandate that could be respected by all sides?

This is an approach we have tested in south Sudan, where Peace Direct has equipped local people as election educators to tour villages and cattle camps and explain how and why to vote. We have found that their local knowledge and status are widely respected and, instead of being dismissed as either “foreign” or “official”, they command a neutral status which is indeed democratic. This is an approach that could be extended to election observers in this and other troubled nations, if the international system could recognise the many advantages of going local.

Carolyn Hayman,

Chief Executive, Peace Direct

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BBC news – Bashir “will expel poll observers”

What’s it all about? The BBC’s Sudan Election Q&A

The old woman folds a shawl around her crinkled face as she squints into the midday sun. She holds out a basket for sale. In the pouch around her waist is enough cash to feed her family for a week. Today she will not need to dedicate her singing to bloodshed.

Fatima is from southern Sudan. Her people, the Hakamat, revere the elder women of their tribe as singers of ritual songs – songs that accompany building a house or gathering a crop, but lately have supported war.

During decades of civil war, each armed group in her region of South Kordofan would adopt a Hakamat woman to sing them battle songs. The singing gave them courage and confidence. The singers became rich and important.

When the civil war ended, the militias disbanded and the singers lost business. They fell back on their villages to support them – and found that songs of blood worked there too. A lucrative line of work emerged. In pastoral communities where old wounds remain from 23 years of war, the influence of a Hakamat singer could inflame a dispute over a cow into a vendetta between tribes.

Local peacebuilder Rasha El Fangry understood the influence of these women. But she believed the advocates of war could become ambassadors for peace.

Other people had tried this before and failed. Hakamat women had agreed to sing peaceful songs at festivals, and then returned to their ways. As Rasha explains, “Villagers do not give money to songs of peace, and as soon as a festival was over the women returned to the way they were before.”

But Rasha, with her local knowledge and contacts, looked deeper into the problem. She talked to the singers. They told her that the real problem was how to earn a living. One said, “We want to learn the songs of peace, so no more of our children will be lost in war. But you must train us in something, so that we can support ourselves.”

So Rasha brought a trainer from Khartoum to their village, a woman who was skilled in [weaving], and for two weeks the trainer taught the Hakamat women her skills. And all the time, Rasha talked with them about war and peace. “I told the women their hands needed to be with the hands of all Sudan.”

Today these women are makers of all kinds of handicrafts. They sing about peace. And Fatima can feed her family without inciting violence.

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2009 has seen the Collaborative for Peace in Sudan grow from strength to strength. Whilst the year has not been without its challenges, the Collaborative has made great progress –

• It has extended its network to Blue Nile, South Kordofan and Jonglei States to target election related violence
• Five new organisations have joined the Collaborative across the country and it continues to receive international support beyond Peace Direct

Workshops are organised with local communities in hard to reach areas to challenge the notion that violence is the only way to respond to conflict. At the end of the workshop participants elect a five member peace committee. The peace committees map conflicts and intervene in disputes, and if neccessary they apply for rapid response funding. Their position as insiders from the community cannot be underestimated.

“This is the first time we have been taught something by one of our own sons. Normally it is an INGO or an NGO. This makes us feel we have something to offer and can help ourselves.” Village elder

Rapid Response Fund in action

An oil company had begun drilling on land in the Kadugli area. In compensation the oil company had built a medical centre on land belonging to the Kolba tribe and paid for a medical professional to staff it. However the Koyat tribe disputed the compensation as they said the original land belonged to them. Violence had erupted in 2007 leading to the deaths of 3 people, but the situation was believed to have calmed down.

At the workshop in Kadugli the Collaborative was approached by a member of the Koyat tribe to express his concern that his tribe had purchased 40 weapons. At the same workshop, the Collaborative was approached by a member of the Kolba tribe to warn that some of his men had been sent for military training in Kenya. The newly established Peace Committee was tasked with investigating.

 The Peace Committee discovered that the oil company had compensated the wrong tribe. Rapid Response funding was provided to set up a meeting with the oil company and the tribes people. Following three days of negotiations the oil company agreed to build a second health clinic on Koyat land.

The year ahead

The coming elections in 2010 and the 2011 referendum on whether the South should split from the North will throw up many challenges to safety in Sudan. Over the next year the Collaborative will focus on expanding their network to reach more communities.They will train people to conduct oil related impact surveys of communities on the border with Unity and South Kordofan. From this they will be able to look at wider issues associated with expected border and population movement issues in relation to the 2011 referendum.

The threat of violence will hang over Sudan this year due to the uncertainty of what the elections mean, political rivalry, oil related conflicts, and the ever constrained natural resources. The Collaborative offers an peaceful alternative to conflict and their work will be ever more vital in 2010.

“The situation in South Kordofan is getting worse by the day. This is our analysis of what is fuelling the conflict

Oil

“Oil money” is creating tension between tribes and families. The Baleelah and Awlad Hiban tribes have brought weapons and announced war, accusing each other of taking compensation from oil companies for land belonging to the other.

the spread of tribalism with inter tribe relationships breaking down. 7 people were recently killed in conflict between the Baggarah ‘Arab tribe’ tribe and the Shawamil ‘Nuba tribe’.

Impact on security

You can’t move safely in south kordofan because of “bandits” and armed groups. On my last trip from Dilling to Kadugli we were stopped and asked for road fees, they’re not police they don’t have any authority except their weapons.

INGOs cars have been burnt as people mistake them for oil company cars.

Widespread corruption with people accepting money as bribes.

Abuse of power to get compensation, people are using their status to get compensation they are not entitled to.

Effect on natural resources

Vegetation cover is retracting, trees and shrubs purposefully ruined by local communities in anticipation of compensation from oil companies.

Wildlife then suffers.

Water holes are drying up as a result of earthmoving and earth fills activity by oil companies. An example is the Kailaik Lake which dried up – for the first time ever.

Pollutants the presence of pollutants (in western sector of south Kordofan) is noticed; and many consider it the cause of spread of diseases unknown before in the area: many pregnant women suffered abortions while others (especially children) suffer from eye disease. These diseases spread near areas with polluted water which people use.

Conflict is changing. Recent violence between the ‘Rizaigat’ and ‘Missairiyah’ tribe involved 3000 armed horse riders and 35 cars from each tribe shoot police forces before turning on each other. 28 police and 50 people from each tribe died as well as innocent civilians. Tribes are now very organized, well trained and well armed.

The coming conflict between tribes will be bloodier than before. Its urgent we start working from the grassroots so war does not garner mass support leading to another Darfur.

Rasha El Fangry

Coordinator CfPS”

“Two weeks ago, I attended a meeting with Sudan Oil and Human Security Initiative (SOHSI), government officials and representatives of Total to discuss the concerns that oil may have on conflict in the state. During that meeting it was clear that Jonglei State is experiencing increased tensions. It is believed by many that the referendum will highlight the tribal divisions in the south and already there is a worrying increase in violence and a concerning shifting pattern in cattle raiding. The main concerns now are to:

1. Disarm tribes in a more effective and evenly spread way than previous efforts
a. Previous efforts tried to disarm one county at a time leaving it vulnerable to its neighbours
b. Chiefs were selected to lead the disarmament but lack of local knowledge often led to choosing Chiefs that were not respected
c. More successful attempts at voluntary disarmament have been trialed and need to be supported more intensely
d. Other initiatives to improve human security without actual disarmament are available and may be more realistic in some cases
2. Encourage trade between the different tribes and provide youth with employment
a. I think this has been tried with some success by USAID Youth Community Programme which created joint tribal committees and cross territory trade
3. Raise awareness of the referendum and what it means at a community level
a. Use existing early warning posts and community level training to maintain a permanent positive dialogue about the referendum
b. Use radio broadcasts to raise awareness and keep the message alive
4. Improve policing of state borders
a. Use MPs to work with the police and tighten control of the borders
5. Try to prevent spoiling influences from the north
a. Using local networks, identify those who are susceptible to the north and work with them to engage in a more positive way

Tom Gillhespy
Head of International programmes
Peace Direct”

Land Disputes

“Land disputes rage because there is not enough land for all the people who depend upon it to make a living. After the signing of the peace agreement, many people, who’d left the region because of fighting, came home. During war time, tribes who were not considered on the side of rebels moved freely in the region and the authorities gave land to please certain tribes. Many town people were given land to farm. Some returnees claim this is their land. Land disputes are happening all over the country and are turning into bloody fighting.”

Elections

“Everyone is after power. The rebels haven’t had power in the past, the peace agreement briefly gave them some but now the National Congress Party is in office. At a community level, old tribal chiefs want either to reclaim power or to preserve it. New generations have their eyes on it, so power divides along tribal lines, smaller-community lines, and political movement lines.”

Poverty

“Local people find themselves living in poverty with high unemployment and huge uncertainty about the future. Nothing else could possibly be expected from a person with no job, no money and no future; when they see people in neighbouring south sudan and Darfur what fruits you can expect by going violent. You start by earning your day’s meal and may end up sitting at a table with a government that bribes anyone with a gun. A small dispute in a local beer parlour may snowball into a bloody fight along community/tribal lines.

Tribal affiliation is like religion in the countryside. You are nothing but a Missairi or nuba. You join any fight on your tribesmen’s side. Rumours cause tribal fights without anybody pausing to make sure the information is correct. The media is on the side of the ruling party (NCP), including newspapers that are not allowed to write anything but the press releases of the government spokesperson.

Women used to drum up calls for ‘supporting your tribesmen and showing that you are a man’. Singing and dancing to motivate the young. No more. Women were heavily harmed by the fighting and thousands are lining the streets of cities selling tea to support orphans or children whose fathers have gone away, possibly for good. Everyone is armed. People in the rural areas can only depend on their gun and tribal backing. The little presence of a government authority is only felt inside town (capitals of the states). In the open countryside there is no law and you have to fend for yourself. So everyone must be armed. And arms are getting cheaper and available everywhere, thanks to conflict in Chad and Darfur.

Rasha El Fanry
Coordinator
CfPS

“CfPS organises monthly meetings in the Blue Nile to explore peace building opportunities and spread awareness about the coming elections.

Achievements

1. Copies of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) were distributed amongst communities.
2. 5 volunteers from each town assisted the organisation of the meetings.
3. Government authorities approved the meeting and even sent representatives to participate.
4. The committee helped resolve a conflict between the Angassana and Ambararu tribes which killed ten people.
5. Trust was built between local people and CfPS.
6. The committees were the in the region to tackle the issue of election violence.
7. The committees are working with local media to produce programmes on these issues to be broadcast on national television.

Difficulties

1. There is difficulty in moving from one village to another due to the lack of means of transport and the high cost of vehicle rent.
2. People wanted posters and loudspeakers (public address system) that are not available to the committees.
3. Without a paid administrator coordinating the four committees is slow.
4. The large number of participants in these meetings requires the provision of adequate number of chairs and expenses (refreshment, etc) that committees can not afford.
5. Civic education on election and resultant disputes requires enlisting the services of experienced facilitators (not available locally). The committees can not afford to pay them nor provide them with accommodation.
6. It is imperative to hold joint meetings for the committees every month or every three months. However, the committees do not have required funds.
7. Work is ever growing in volume as well as responsibilities; while the number of members of committees in charge is limited.

Rasha El Fangry
Coordinator
CfPS”

“Several conflicts have erupted between the Missairiyah, an Arab tribe and Manadeel, a Nuba tribe over land and water resources. These conflicts are ongoing but have recently escalated into armed violence. CfPS organised a seminar bringing together elders from both tribe to resolve the conflict and create a permanent peace committee made up of both tribes.

Read the report of the seminar here.

Rasha EL Fangry
Coordinator
CfPS”