The Sudan Handbook

128 thE sudan handbook

half of the children in migrant settlements do not complete primary

education.

The violent events that followed the sudden death of John Garang in

August 2005, when youths rampaged in Khartoum and dozens of peoples

were killed, revealed the fragile nature of the social fabric. Local media

commentators linked the rampage to angry southerners from migrant

communities, but it soon became clear that, though ethnic difference was

an element, those who engaged in burning, killing and looting included

marginalized people from all over the country. The events in Khartoum

were shocking to some in the north, long insulated from the violence

endemic in other parts of the country; and separatist voices became

louder in the aftermath. Ominously, the riots also revealed the existence

of armed militias in the city. Should north and south Sudan separate, and

should there be conflict between the two new states, there is likely to be

further intercommunal strife in the urban periphery of Khartoum, where

so many southerners live.

Rural-urban migration and urbanization can lead to the integration of

different ethnic groups. But Sudan’s protracted instability and conflict

has defeated the melting-pot powers of urban centres, and what we see

instead is a reconstitution of ethnic identities. This process is reinforced

by the failure of the state to ensure that the basic needs of the poor

are met. State policies of revitalizing tribal and ethnic identities also

contribute. Policies such as ‘return to the roots’, which have tried to

establish forms of tribal administration among urban migrants, have led

to people affirming their tribal or ethnic identities in search of security.

New forms of native administration have emerged: sultans are appointed

with jurisdiction over communities of southern IDPs in Khartoum and

the local courts they organize are recognized by the authorities.

There is little evidence that migration to Khartoum and other major

cities will be halted or even reduced in the near future. While authorities

are busy managing urban social and spatial problems, largely unsuc-

cessfully, they ignore the structural causes of the massive population

movements in the country. Internal migration in Sudan is a response to

The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors civil crisis and the collapse of livelihoods in rural areas. But the authorities

(www.riftvalley.net).