The Sudan Handbook

312 thE sudan handbook

The peoples of the borderlands are of fundamental importance to the

success or failure of the national peace process. They have a particularly

acute awareness of the historical failure of the state to represent them,

to resolve their disputes with their neighbours or to protect them from

wider patterns of violence. Some of them are liable, for this reason, to

take matters into their own hands. The western part of these north-south

borderlands is also, tellingly, where the emerging polity of South Sudan

is most exposed to the open violence in Darfur and the still-building

social and political tensions in South Kordofan. Historically, this is where

Sudan’s two wars converged. And where the peace will be tested.

The Three Towns

The fate of the border peoples is the most immediate issue of the new era

in Sudan. A further issue, potentially most difficult of all, is the situation

of southerners in the north. Greater Khartoum itself is a kind of border

area, with a huge population of displaced southerners, westerners and

Nuba from South Kordofan, victims of misgovernment who have fled

from war and famine over the past three decades. During this time the

labour of these migrants has fuelled the development of the centre. And

they have maintained the historic heterogeneity of Khartoum, a city that

will be of enduring cultural and economic significance to South Sudan

even when it is no longer its national capital.

Khartoum reproduces the social geography of the country, with

migrants living in camps and shanty towns on the edge of the city, while

the central areas house the institutions of government and the dwelling

places of the wealthy and politically privileged. It will continue to do so, to

a greater or lesser extent, whatever happens in South Sudan. Upholding

the right of southerners, as well as other Sudanese, to work, live, own

property and move freely in the north is another political challenge the

northern government will face. Its attitude to the great displaced of

Khartoum will be a test of its goodwill in adapting to the new political

dispensation, where governments and citizens of the Sudans must find

The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors a way to live together in peace.

(www.riftvalley.net).