Under Garang the SPLA became a very autocratic military organisation and one which frequently targeted civilians. The Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), which was led by John Garang from the beginning of the war in 1983 until his death in 2005, was the largest and most powerful of the southern rebel groups that fought against the Sudanese government. The rebels in the South were no different. The problem with this form of resistance is that these rebel groups often behave just as badly as the governments that they oppose. There are many examples of opposition groups in Africa that have turned to armed rebellion to oppose oppressive governments. There was also a civil war between Darfur and the Sudanese government as well, which has resulted in genocide and widespread rape in Darfur. The second of these civil wars resulted in South Sudan becoming a separate nation of its own. This led to two separate civil wars between the northern government and rebels in the south. The northern elites had marginalised those in the south and had even tried to impose their Arab identity on the rest of the nation. When Sudan became independent the nation was dominated primarily by the Arabised elite in the north. The result of this was that the people of Darfur were excluded from the Arabic ruling class in the north after Sudan became independent. Darfur, which is located in the north, was also neglected by the British administration. The north received more attention from the British administration, whereas the south was neglected. British colonial rule helped to further entrench the ethnic and cultural differences between those in the north and those in the south so that by the time Sudan became independent there was a clear distinction between the “Arab” north and the “Black African” south.ĭuring the colonial period, the British developed the north and south very differently. The southern portion of Sudan continued to practice their traditional religious beliefs, as well as Christianity. Africans in the Sudan put up fierce resistance against the Islamic invasions, but over time those in the north adopted the Arabic religion and culture of the invaders. Sudan’s name is itself a reflection of these foreign conquests because the name Sudan comes from the Arabic phrase “bilad al-sudan,” which means “land of the blacks” in Arabic. The conflict that caused the separation between Sudan and South Sudan is one that traces its roots to the European and Arabic conquests of Sudan. The ongoing civil war in South Sudan offers important lessons about effective and ineffective ways to produce a change in Africa.
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