thE intERnational PREsEnCE in sudan 279world 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- 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).