Oil and Water in Sudan 191economically, the south could not stand on its own, the south did not want
to be subject to the north.
A Constitutional Commission was established in 1951 to propose safe-
guards for the south. The commission had an inherent weakness in that it
had only nominal southern participation. While proposing some measures
that favoured the south, the commission rejected the call for a federal system
of governance for Sudan.
Similarly, the Anglo-Egyptian Agreement in 1953 that granted self-gover-
nance to Sudan did not include participation by the south. Marginalisation of
the south in the independence process continued, leading to armed uprising
in the southern province of Equatoria in 1955, and the walk-out of the south-
ern delegation. This open opposition compelled the northern elite to 'con-
sider' a federal system of governance for the south. Based on this guarantee,
the southern representatives agreed to participate in the declaration of inde
pendence on 1 January 1956.
In 1958, a military force, under General ibrahim Abboud, seized power
and began a campaign to suppress opposition and accelerate the 'Islamicisa-
tion' of the south. At the same time, the Anya Nya [Snake Poison) rebel force,
which began to form in the year before independence, emerged as a military
threat to the state. The Anya Nya campaign for southern self-determination
ended in 1972 when the waning patties accepted the Addis Ababa Accord, a
formula granting the south regional autonomy.Efforts towards Peace
The section below summarises many of the past and ongoing efforts at peace
in the Sudan, all of which have grappled to a lesser or greater extent with the
difficult issues of religion, ethnicity, and resource control.
The Addis Ababa Accord reached in Febmary 1972 between the govern-
ment of Sudan under President Numeiri and the South Sudan Liberation
Movement (SSLM) or Anyanya I1 Movement established regional self-gov-
ernment in the southern provinces of Sudan including Bahr El Ghazal,
Equatoria and Upper Nile. It was during this peaceful phase in the Sudan that
oil exploration and discovery occurred.
The agreement established a system of governance in Sudan that provid-
ed for extensive autonomy and self-rule in the south. The Addis Ababa
Accord failed, however, to establish real autonomy. The executive powers of
the regional assembly, including the governor, ministers and commissioners,
were all to be appointed or approved by the president of the republic. The
president also retained veto powers over any bill he deemed contrary to the
national constitution. In effect, though the southern region was provided on
paper with extensive autonomy in the management of its affairs, it was all
subject to the direct approval of the presidency.