The Sudan Handbook

thE intERnational PREsEnCE in sudan 279

world communism, the Reagan administration markedly increased

economic, military and humanitarian aid. Within Sudan, however,

Nimeiri’s pro-US policy was unpopular, as America was seen by many

Sudanese as complicit in prolonging a repressive regime. Nimeiri’s

domestic position therefore deteriorated as US support for him surged.

In the 1980s, the external orientation and international dependence

of the Sudanese regime became more pronounced as Nimeiri’s domestic

legitimacy eroded. One target of popular protest was Operation Moses,

the US-assisted airlift of Ethiopian Jews or Falashas to Israel via Sudan in

1984, which took place with Nimeiri’s approval. Khartoum was becoming

progressively delinked from domestic accountability: it was insulated

from without by international patronage, and from within by the gradual

privatization of government welfare provision. The role of international

agencies in this process was influential. During the 1970s, Sudan’s

National Commission for Refugees worked through the Sudan Council

of Churches, as well as refugee organizations. But following a confer-

ence on refugees in Khartoum in 1980, the privatization of relief started,

initially with refugee programmes in eastern Sudan. The state relin-

quished control as donors channelled increasing assistance to refugees

through UNHCR and international NGOs. In southern Sudan, during the

1970s, well-resourced international NGOs that provided welfare services

and undertook development projects became a functioning substitute

for the under-resourced regional government in Juba. In so doing they

undermined its legitimacy. The upshot was the consolidation – mirrored

in Sudan as a whole – of welfare privatization and externalized govern-

ment accountability.

The outbreak and spread of renewed civil war in southern Sudan inter-

rupted oil exploration and other development projects, halting foreign

investment. The SPLA targeted prominent international projects in

1984. Three expatriate oil workers were killed in an attack on Chevron’s
      Rubkona base near Bentiu on 3 February. France’s Total suspended its
      oil operations after the SPLA attacked the Sobat camp of the French
      company digging the Jonglei Canal on 10 February. Following the time-

The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors honoured European example in Sudan, the company quickly evacuated

(www.riftvalley.net).