Oil and Water in SudanBackground to the Conflict
Sudan, the largest country in Africa, covers an area of 250 million hectares and
is bordered by Egypt and Libya to the north, Ethiopia and Eritrea to the east,
Central African Republic to the west and Kenya and Uganda to the south. Sudan
is a country of diverse cultural, religious and ethnic orientation, with bountiful
natural resources from land and vegetation to minerals that could foster a rich
and dynamic socio-political economy. The reality has been the reverse, as the
Sudan has been plagued for centuries with resource-related contlicts.
Southern Sudan is rich in natural resources; regions to the north are less
so. Common language and religion reinforce the social base of the Sudanese
state; the unity of southerners stems mainly from a shared sense of oppres-
sion and marginalisation. Northern society and economy reflect long-stand-
ing external linkages; southern society is very much a product of spatial and
historical isolation. The northern polity and economy is highly centralised;
southern polity and economy is decentralised and fragmented. These con-
trasts belie the Sudanese 'Arab' characterisation of their homeland as dares
islam (land of peace), which is at least partially a function of their perception
of the 'African' south as dar a1 harb (land of war).
Analysing the ecological sources of the Sudanese conflict, however, forces
us to look beyond the obvious dualities between north and south, Christian
and Muslim, African and Arab. Instead, it directs one to examine the linkage
between macro and micro levels of the conflict. This, in turn requires that we
uace the history of conflict in the region, disaggregate regional aspects of the
problem, investigate the localised ecological and environmental elements,
and specify how they articulate within the larger conflict.'
Historical Context
Distinction between north and south remains a core issue that has pervaded
not just political and social aspects of the war, but is a key factor of ecologi-
cal conflicts in the Sudan. As is the case with most of Africa, Sudan has been
subject to a long history of natural and human resource pillage by the West
and the East. Pre-colonial Sudan experienced centuries of foreign invasions
primarily for the following reasons:
the pillage of natural resources, prominently ivory, gold and timber trade; and
the capture of human resources through the slave trade.Though the search for resources remained a major motivation, the dynamics
of these invasions evolved to incorporate religious and cultural dimensions.
The Turkish-Egyptian conquest in the lgthcentury established the first formal
administration of the Sudan under a vast monarchy spreading from Egypt to
Lake Victoria.