The Sudan Handbook

124 thE sudan handbook

involve social commitment to both the origin and destination. In western

Sudan, it is generally known that families with migrant members are

better off than ones without. In this sense, rural-urban migration, or

migration generally, can foster integration and entrench people’s connec-

tions across space. Through migration, different people come together

and get exposed to each other’s ways of living and thinking. Migration

provides possibilities for greater tolerance in multiethnic and multi-

cultural societies.

Yet, there are far-reaching negative consequences also. First, the rural

areas lose vital productive resources, especially as the majority of migrants

are of working age. This results in the deterioration of productivity of

agricultural and pastoral sectors, hence the decline of the contribution of

these sectors to the gross national product. Second, the rapid growth of

urban population puts pressure on the services and urban infrastructure.

Third, inequalities in the town reveal poverty and lack of integration of

migrants into the urban system. Khartoum, for example, is currently

witnessing a remarkable real-estate development including residential

complexes, infrastructure and foreign investment projects. Parts of the

city are coming to resemble Dubai or Abu Dhabi, in the Arabian Gulf.

Yet, these developments do not benefit the half of Khartoum’s popula-

tion that lives in the vast periphery of the city. The city provides few

services to this group. And long-term residents of Khartoum fear that the

growth of the city will reinforce ethnic and class polarization. Successive

governments have feared what they see as the destructive potential of

newcomers and have adopted a security approach to migrants and IDPs,

pushing them to the outer edges of the city.

How Migrants Live

How do migrants earn a living? Over the years, they have adopted many

strategies. IDPs initially depended on relief food provided by NGOs.

Relief food was distributed from 1984 onwards as a result of famine in

eastern and western Sudan. But relief distribution was greatly reduced

The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors in 1998 and IDPs in Khartoum have been left largely on their own since

(www.riftvalley.net).