Sudan: One year after secession, all promises evaporated
Only one year after Sudan split into two countries, the Sudanese citizens have discovered the falsehood of the promises that Sudan is rich, and that it would be stronger without the South.
Some contributed in pushing the citizens to choose secession, instead of unity. They filled the streets with banners against the South and its people, thinking that Sudan would be a paradise on earth after the secession of the South.
After the secession, they celebrated and while the majority of the Sudanese people accepted this secession with tears, others hoped for a better future without the South. Has any of those promises been achieved?
A market in Khartoum, June 27. High living costs challenge the life of many citizens.
I was sure that the secession would lead the country into the abyss,” says Abkar Adam Isaac, a student at The Niles University.
Now, after less than one year, an acute crisis has begun -- prices have risen and living conditions have deteriorated frightfully, prompting the government to impose austerity measures which, I believe, will be useless and quickly fail,” he adds.
The economy of Sudan, which was dependent on the South oil, will collapse,” says Isaac.
His colleague, Tayeb Hamid says the advocates of secession always said that Sudan had abundant resources and would not be affected by secession. So, where have these many resources of Sudan gone? Since secession economic and living conditions have been deteriorating and citizens will not forgive those who have committed this crime.”
Zubaydah Abdulrahim, another student at The Niles University, has a different point of view. She believes that those who said that the Sudan would be better off without the South meant that the majority of the remaining Sudan would be Muslims, and this would reduce the strife between them and lead to stability.
Abdulaziz Fadl says he had expected things would worsen starting from the first months of secession because the country’s economy was depended on oil, and without oil, everything would stop because the alternatives are almost nonexistent”. In the past, the cotton project was the backbone of life and instead of developing it after the discovery of oil, it has been destroyed and become unable to fulfil the needs of the Sudanese citizens”.
If people want to safely live in a country, they should distance themselves from discrimination in all its forms.”
Karamallah Ahmad, a taxi driver, laments the loss of everything. He believes that the secession was the desire of religious-maniac groups, since the Southern Sudanese citizens cannot accept to remain in a state that makes them second-class citizens because they are Christians and not Muslims.
If people want to safely live in a country, they should distance themselves from discrimination in all its forms. The secession is the outcome of discrimination only”, says Karamallah. What has Sudan earned after the secession,” he wonders.
We were better off. Now, we are going to hell and falling into the abyss. Even the fool wouldn’t believe the promises we heard before the secession. The Sudanese people today reap what the political leaders have sown,” says Juma Mukhtar.
