08.08.09
My Comments on the Sudanese Portion of Me Against My Brother
The second portion of Me Against My Brother is on Sudan. Like Somalia, the Sudanese have also been embroiled in warfare, which has resulted in the displacement of civilians and thus massive starvation. However, according Scott Peterson, author of Me Against My Brother, the warfare in Sudan appears to be more religious in nature, than clan clashes as in Somalia. Some claim that the Sudanese warfare is more nationalistic than religious, but since there is no separation of religion and government there, it would be wrong to say there isn’t a strong religious component to their civil conflicts. Basically, the northern hard-line Muslim Sudanese are fighting against the southern Moderate Muslims (Sufis) and the Christians. Or as Peterson writes,
“Sudan’s conflict today is a modern extension of the Crusades, of the collision between Islam and Christianity. As it was then, this war is still wholly primitive in its disregard for civilians. This is a battle in which there are no prisoners of war. And of course, these days it carries on with 20th-century weapons. Not every northern fighter is a bearded Muslim zealot swinging a sword for God’s will. And not every southern rebel is a Christian soldier marching as to war. In fact, when the civil war first began more than 45 yeas ago, religion was hardly a factor. But over time, religious aspects have turned into red lines, even a casus belli. In the past decade, the war has been transformed that way.”
Peterson includes part of his interview with the sister and mother of Al-Fateh Omar Hussein, a young Sudanese martyr. His sister explains to Peterson how there is no separation of church and state in Islam so “what is seen as nationalism in a Western sense, here it is seen in religious terms.” She goes on to explain the conflict to Islamic doctrine as she states,”
“The aim is not to bring Islam to the people of the south, but to use religion [to fight] the war”. . . “Before this regime had re-energized the civil war, ‘generals ordered to the south would take off their epaulets’ and refuse to go.”
“Religion in this war is not the core subject,” says Hussein’s sister. “But when they say it is a jihad to defend your family, your government and your people, fighters will be motivated by the religious reward. For human nature, killing is very hard, and it is not acceptable unless there is a very high reward. Today, the reward is very high.”
Apparently, not only does their government use religion as a motivator for some of the people to fight, they also compensate families of the martyrs. Peterson writes that, “Families of martyrs are well-cared for, school fees are paid by the regime, and streets and even PDF brigades are named after those who embrace Allah’s will. I found that interesting because here in the U.S. the thing we commonly hear is that those radicals Muslims fight so that they can go to heaven and find scores of virgins waiting for them. Obviously we aren’t shown the whole truth. Supposedly in Sudan there are more “Sufi Muslims who believe that the Koran rejects “compulsion in religion”–that is, imposing Islam upon non-believers. It also delivers a message of tolerance of Christians and Jews, whom Muslims consider to be People of the Book who simply follow different prophets. But in practice in Sudan, these precepts have proved to be little protection for non-Muslims.”
Another thing I learned from the Sudan portion of Me Against My Brother is that famine and starvation in this area is not necessarily caused by over population, but due in large part to warfare. I recall reading an article on “Plumpy Nut” months ago, which described a product developed to help feed the starving people in parts of Africa. I read the comments below where all sorts of people made assertions regarding areas hit by famine in Africa. Some such comments were regarding over population suggesting that they should control their reproduction because their numbers are outgrowing the ability of the land to sustain them. While I had heard that those claims are erroneous, reading Me Against My Brother confirmed to me that that assertion is incorrect. Over population is not the primary cause of their famines and starvation, but rather it’s all the civil warfare which has been regularly displacing the people and where warriors/soldiers raid and destroy the food supplies of the civilians that results in the lack of food and shelter.
To complicate matters, the wars in Sudan are not simple north and south issues. Aside from the Popular Defense Forces (PDF), the National Islam Front (NIF), and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), there are factions within groups such as the Nuer and the Dinka tribes who have traditions and myths that seem to perpetually have these tribes warring against one another. Other organizations are also involved such as Maoist backing and then other foreign aid groups, which presents the dilemma of how to really aid the civilians when all these warring factions use foreign aid intended for the starving civilians to bolster their soldiers to fight more. It’s a conundrum that is quite obvious to the Sudanese themselves as Peterson writes how the Sudanese “joke” about their situation:
“There was an Egyptian who was blind and begging.
God appeared and said: “What can I do for you?”
The Egyptian, of course, replied: “please open my eyes.”
There was a Lebanese who was deaf and dumb.
And God appeared and said: “What can I do for you?”
The Lebanese replied, “Please give me the power of speech.”
And there was a Sudanese, who was crippled and paralyzed,
God appeared and said: “What can I do for you?”
The Sudanese answered: “Please give me a wheelchair, but make it an automatic, so that I can beg more and more.”
Oftentimes foreign aid is used by the warring factions which keeps them strong enough to fight another day. Not only are they fed, but at times clothed as well. . . At the Lobonok base, Peterson writes about the great poverty in that region. Some of the SPLA soldiers have uniforms, but everyone else wears T-shirts and rags that often are sent from church collections from America and Europe to the poor in Africa. The Sudanese wear an array of US high school sports teams and advertisements/mementos from places such as Disneyland to Lapland. Peterson writes that, “Many young warriors marched into battle clad in wildly incongruous outfits: bright children’s ski jackets with crude designs; polyester powder-blue flare-bottom trousers, thrown away by some American in the late 1970’s, when Saturday Night Fever style quietly gave way to Levi’s 501 jean; flannel pyjamas with childlike teddy bears and sometimes even bathroom slippers. The handouts were worn until they became threadbare, until shoulders and knees wore away and the last fibers disintegrated. ‘It’s exceedingly primitive,’ one foreign visitor said. ‘You get the impression they could have been doing the same thing for the past 100 years and could still be at it for the next century.’” Peterson goes on to write about their crude attire and weapons “sacks.” It seems almost humorous in a weird way, but mostly sad that this instinct to fight causes so much suffering and renders “aid” for the needy more of aid to more fighting and suffering. I am again reminded of the Bible that without love, we are nothing. Can these wars end without men learning Christ’s love? People often fight and kill one another in the name of God, but the Bible tells us in 1 John 4:20:
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
In the meantime, how do we help these people? Do we continue to send foreign aid? How can we not? But somehow it needs to be more controlled. There must be more accountability to the aid being sent.
As usual, there is much more to mull over regarding Sudan, but I’ll stop here. I have finished reading Me Against My Brother, but will comment on the last section on Rwanda another time. I have found Peterson’s book enlightening, so definitely would recommend this book to anyone interested in African history and world affairs. Although I should warn that it is disturbing in places because war is disturbing and anyone who isn’t disturbed by the atrocities of war must have their consciences seared somehow. But I do give Peterson’s book two thumbs up as it helps to give a better understanding of the issues faced in parts of Africa, namely Somalia, Sudan, and Rwanda. I find it helps me to be less quick to judge and more thoughtful.
Marlakins
