THERE IS A RAY OF HOPE from the African state of Sudan. After weeks of border skirmishes and threats of war, the indication from President Omar Al Bashir that he wants to settle the row with South Sudan in an amicable manner is indeed welcome.
It is depressing that this once prosperous country has suffered from the ravages of civil war for decades with significant loss of life. The fact that the dialogue is now possible and both sides are aware of the catastrophe that conflict would bring for the region is a hopeful sign indeed.
Peaceful coexistence is what is expected of people the world over in promoting security. Nevertheless, how does peaceful coexistence come about? There are many concepts. The main one is respect. Many human rights violations occur in the absence of respect.
Cordial relations between two neighbours are guided by respect of each neighbour’s space. A violation of one’s space may invite a retaliatory action which will not augur well with the essence of peaceful coexistence. South Sudan and Sudan are two neighbours.
Previously, South Sudan was an integral part of united Sudan. However, as it were South Sudan divorced North Sudan. The divorce left North Sudan, now simply known as Sudan, very bitter as it felt it had not been adequately compensated.
South Sudan, on the other hand, was very happy to go separate ways from a forced marriage that was doomed to fail from day one. The challenge now is how to bring about peaceful coexistence between South Sudan and Sudan.
The mediation on the part of former South African President Thabo Mbeki to broker a peace deal between both sides is an indispensable effort if peace is to be achieved, and South Sudan must reciprocate in earnest.
However, the onus will be on South Sudan to ensure that peace is given a real chance and the bilateral differences are resolved through genuine negotiation and dialogue as the conflict between them had pushed the region to the brink of civil war and unnecessary loss of lives.
Many in Africa believed that the adventure that the South exhibited by occupying an oilfield in Heglig region, which is one of Khartoum’s biggest sources of revenue, was unwarranted in the first place.
This brinkmanship was undertaken in spite of the fact that both countries had agreed on a comprehensive deal to address their border, immigration and financial disagreements.
However, it is no less than a respite that Sudan has agreed to create a ten-kilometre-wide buffer zone as an interim arrangement until the final territorial demarcation is carried out. The newly independent South needs to promote its national interests in a much better manner.
The region in particular and the continent in general have had enough of warfare and should be more concerned with poverty, and a dilapidated civil infrastructure which ate up the resources of Sudan in the two-decades-long civil strife.
