Free Republic

The people of South Kordofan have become caught up in the unresolved contradiction of the post-John Garang Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), which is now leading South Sudan into independence; what happens when a national federalist political movement becomes an ethnic separatist political movement? This is the problem in several areas of Sudan outside the new borders of South Sudan, areas in which the then federalist SPLM/A recruited fighters to combat the Khartoum regime in the interests of creating a federal “New Sudan.” With South Sudan declaring full independence on July 9, a force of roughly 40,000 Nuba SPLA fighters...

Ex-rebel leader John Garang has been sworn in as Sudan's vice-president, ending two decades of bitter civil war. President Omar al-Bashir signed a power-sharing constitution with Mr Garang's followers at a ceremony in Sudan's capital, Khartoum. Southern Sudan is to be given some autonomy and former rebels will take up seats in the country's government. One-and-a-half million people died in 20 years of fighting between the mainly Muslim north and Christian south. A full power-sharing government is due to be formed next month. As well as being named national vice-president, Mr Garang will head the autonomous administration in southern Sudan...