Flying Together 8-South Sudan

SOUTH SUDAN - THE LAND OF RUSTLING OF WINGS AND PEOPLE TALL AND SMOOTH
M.M.NINAN
Bahr el Ghazal.
Abboud fell from power in 1964 and following the failure of the "Round Table" Peace conference in
1965, the governments of Mohammad Ahmed Mahjoub and Sadiq-al-Mahdi launched an aggressive
campaign in southern Sudan.
In June, July and August of 1965 many villages, churches and schools were destroyed and many
thousands driven deep into the bush or into exile in Uganda or Zaire. Bishop Gwynne College, the
theological college of the Anglican diocese of the Sudan was attacked and destroyed by northern
troops. The staff and students with their families walked through the bush to Uganda. In both Juba and
Wau northern troops, out of control, were guilty of large scale massacres of the civilian population.
Between 1963 and 1966 an estimated half a million lives were lost, in addition to a similar number from
related causes such as disease and famine.
Sirr Al-Khatim Al-Khalifa, as prime minister to head a transitional government. 1965
Nimeiri era 1969–1985
Revolutionary Command 1969–1971
During the summer of 1971 the World Council of Churches and the All Africa Conference of Churches,
sought to bring the two sides together. A conference was arranged in Addis Ababa between the
representatives of the Khartoum government (led by Abel Alier, southern Dinka, who was Nimeiri's
minister for southern affairs) and representatives of the South Sudan Liberation Movement (political
wing of the Anyanya). An agreement was signed on February 27, 1972, leading to the Regional
Self-Government Act for the Southern Provinces, approved on the March 3.
The substantial self-government accorded to the South enabled the South to enjoy ten years of
relative peace though these years were marked by political instability and wrangling, and deep division
between the different political factions. The intertribal war continued to interfere unity as it was part of
the age old cattle rustling tradition.
I left for Yemen in 1974
I returned to Sudan in 1980 and stayed till 1988
During these periods I saw no other option for South Sudan than to get freedom from the Islamic
North.
Gaafar Muhammad al-Nimeiry (1930 – 2009) was the President of Sudan from 1969 to 1985.
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