wfn.org | WCC FEATURE: Sudan: peace may take a long time, expert says

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World Council of Churches - Feature

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>For immediate release - 31/07/2008 10:52:22

>PEACE IN SUDAN MAY TAKE A LONG TIME

>Interview with Marina Peter

>By Juan Michel (*)
>Free photo available, see below

More than 20 years of advocacy work for Sudan on behalf of the
churches won to Marina Peter, European coordinator of the Sudan
Ecumenical Forum, a decoration from the German government and a
deep sense of the complexities of a country whose size is almost
that of Western Europe and has seen internal wars over the last
50 years. Only addressing Sudan "in its complexity and as a
whole" will bring about peace, she says.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has
accused the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir of genocide in
Darfur amongst other crimes. Which are the likely consequences of
this?

The consequences of this controversial move are still unclear,
but it does change something in Sudan. Although everybody fears
the worst, I think it is too early to judge. The Darfur peace
process has not been in very good health for a long time anyway.

Many peace advocates in Sudan, including international
humanitarian organizations as well as churches and their partners
in the Sudan Ecumenical Forum, need to properly evaluate possible
scenarios and prefer to maintain a low public profile at this
time. 

I think one should focus on the independence of justice. The
judges of the ICC have to evaluate the evidence presented by the
prosecutor and act according to their evaluation. 

You mentioned the Sudan Ecumenical Forum - an umbrella advocacy
group for Sudanese churches and their international partners
sponsored by the World Council of Churches - which promotes a
"whole Sudan approach". What does that mean?

Sudan is such a big country, with so many ethnic groups,
cultures, peace agreements and conflict situations, that people
find it difficult to see the country as a whole. Some focus on
the south, others on the centre, and with the Darfur crisis
everybody talks about Darfur almost as if it was a separate
country. Any contribution to a better future for the people needs
to be based on an understanding of the complexity and
interdependence of the country. 

Is Darfur being given too much attention, in detriment of the
rest of the country?

No, I do not think so. Darfur is a terrible human tragedy; the
war there deserves a lot of attention. But if you only look at
Darfur and do not see how it is connected to the January 2005
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended the two
decade-long war between north and south, you miss the point. 

>Which is?

The root problems of Sudan are marginalization, lack of
development and racism. Outside Khartoum, the capital, many
people do not have basic services and cannot exercise their
political rights. If people feel sidelined and learn that by
taking up arms they will be heard, that is exactly what will
happen - and it has happened. 

The problem is that then the attention shifts and for instance
the monitoring of the CPA implementation, to which those involved
with peace talks between north and south had committed
themselves, does not work any longer. Without a solution to the
Darfur crisis, Sudan cannot have peace and the CPA will not work.

So, is Darfur the key to achieve peace in Sudan?

It is more complex than that. When the world's attention shifts
to Darfur, people in other regions of the country, like the east
and the far north, feel sidelined as well. In the south, for
instance, where most of the churches are based - as most of the
Christian population is based in the south while most of the
Muslim population is in the north - people feel nobody is paying
attention to the CPA. 

Additionally, many Darfurians took sides with the north in the
fight against the south before, or at least did not express
solidarity when the southern people suffered. That is why
southerners, including Sudanese churches, may have found it
difficult to show solidarity with the people in Darfur. And even
if it is not necessarily true, many believe much of the aid
pledged to the south is going to Darfur. 

Southerners also feel that when they suffered - and they
suffered a lot during 20 years of war against the north, which
killed some 2 million people and left more than 4 million
internally displaced persons - the world looked in another
direction. 

Do you mean that churches in Sudan do not care about what is
going on in Darfur?

No, they do. At the beginning churches said we need to deliver
humanitarian aid; whether those people in Darfur are Muslims or
not, we need to do something. But they found it difficult,
especially at that time but some still today, to do advocacy for
Darfur, because they feel Darfur is somewhat overshadowing their
own problems. 

Meanwhile, according to UN estimates, in Darfur some 300,000
people have been killed over the last five years and more than
two million have fled their homes…

The Darfur tragedy has gone out of hands. At the beginning,
Darfurian rebels and the so-called Janjaweed militias received
support from the main political parties in the south and the
north, respectively. These wanted to have negotiation tools and
thought they could contain the problem in Darfur later. Today,
the Janjaweed have their own strategy, while the rebels have
split into more than 20 groups. 

Now we do not know who represents whom. I think it may take a
long time to reach peace. And real peace needs real change in
Sudan. So we have to address the country in its complexity and as
a whole, and even the wider region needs to be taken into
account, because the interests of neighbouring countries also
play a role… 

What else adds to the complexity of the picture?

The so-called transitional zones: the Nuba people, the people in
southern Blue Nile - many of them feel they are again victims and
not really recognized neither by Khartoum nor by the south,
because they are not southerners. The same happens to the people
in the far east - they also had a war and a peace agreement and
nobody thinks of the east. Those areas - Abyei, Kordofan, the
southern Blue Nile - would be at the frontline of a new war,
which is always a possibility. 

>What does Sudan need most?

I would say justice for the people, but it is difficult to say…
It would need leaders who put the people first and not their own
interest. This applies to both, north and south. 

How can the churches contribute to achieve peace?

One problem Sudanese churches and civil society organizations
face is that after the CPA many of their advocacy activists were
recruited by the government, the UN or international NGOs which
offered better paid jobs. So suddenly all those voices were
missing. 

However, churches should play a more active role in addressing
injustices, and in monitoring the implementation of the CPA. They
are well placed for that as they are everywhere, but they need to
train their members. 
Churches should play a watchdog role, challenging the government
when it does something wrong, because people in Sudan, including
many Muslims, listen to the churches. And of course, the relief
and development work are equally important. 

>[1,195 words]

(*) Juan Michel, WCC media relations officer, is a member of the
Evangelical Church of the River Plate in Buenos Aires,
Argentina.

Free high resolution photo of Marina Peter (please credit: Juan
Michel/WCC):
http://oikoumene.org/fileadmin/images/wcc-main/news/2008/july/marinapeter.JPG

>WCC member churches in Sudan:
>http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=4648

WCC solidarity visit to Sudan, April 2008:

http://overcomingviolence.org/en/iepc/living-letters-visits/sudan.html

>- - - SIDEBAR - - -

>"German by birth, Sudanese by heart"

Marina Peter fell in love with Sudan "by coincidence" 21 years
ago. Being a teacher of German language and history trained in
intercultural education, at that time she knew nothing about the
country, except that it had "hot weather and refugees". But
getting a job with the development agency EED of the Evangelical
Church in Germany (EKD) was the beginning of a learning
experience that made of her one of the most recognized ecumenical
experts on Sudan. 

Over the last two decades, spending a big deal of time in a
country ravaged by war, Peter has seen a lot. "It was very
difficult sometimes: anything could really happen any time,
attacks, bombings; you needed to be prepared and always have your
back-pack ready with water, medicines, staple food. In fact I had
to run several times", she recalls. 

But what impressed her most were touching experiences of
hospitality and resilience. "When people who have almost nothing
offer you their only, skinny goat, it is overwhelming, especially
for someone coming from a wealthy society like mine, where people
are always trying to get more", she says.

"Sometimes, I wondered what I was doing in those remote places
when I could have comfortably been at home, far from bombings,
shootings, spiders, scorpions and snakes… But then one thinks of
those people who do not give up hope even if they are displaced
two, three times; those women who need to start again and again
and they still have hope. And then you cannot stop, because if
they have hope you are not entitled to give up."

Last March, Peter was awarded the Cross of Merit on ribbon - one
of the highest distinctions of the Federal Republic of Germany -
in recognition of her service to the Sudan Ecumenical Forum
(SEF), for which she has been the European coordinator since
1997. Created in 1994, the Forum is a network of Sudanese
churches and international ecumenical partners, including several
German church development agencies. Sponsored by the World
Council of Churches, the Forum promotes peace and human rights,
with activities in Europe and Sudan. 

>[350 words]

Opinions expressed in WCC Features do not necessarily reflect
WCC policy. This material may be reprinted freely, providing
credit is given to the author. 

Additional information:Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507
6363 media@wcc-coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,
witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical
fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings
together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches
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