Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Sudan

Violence strikes Eastern Sudan

Demands for greater autonomy in eastern Sudan lead to clashes and fatalities

THERE HAS been considerable international focus on Sudan. Darfur in the west and the peace process between north and south have both recently been in the news. Yet there remain other ethnic tensions, right across the country.

In late January there were serious clashes in the eastern Sudanese town of Port Sudan. Up to 30 people were killed in what appear to have been clashes between government forces and the majority Beja tribe, who are demanding greater autonomy. This has received very little media attention.

In contrast Darfur (where over 100,000 people have been killed and more than a million displaced) has been in the television lens; to a lesser extent the long-running peace process, which recently provided a settlement for the 20-year war between the Government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM/A).

This peace agreement is a major opportunity for all of the people of Sudan. The implementation of the process will require a great deal of goodwill by the international community to make it work. It also requires good faith by the new joint government.

Part of the international response will be in enhanced financial support. The European Commission (EC) and the UK government have recently announced the release of significant sums of aid which had been frozen prior to the agreement. How that support is targeted and how it is administered may be fundamental in making the peace work.

Eastern Sudan, where Ockenden has worked for over 20 years, has received little attention by the international media and even by some donors. Yet according to the United Nations World Food Programme, the nutritional situation of children is worse than in parts of Darfur.

Some 250,000 displaced Sudanese also live in the main towns of Port Sudan and Kassala. Many of these live under cardboard boxes, spending what little they have on the water to survive in the desert climate. In 20 years of working in some of the world's poorest countries, the conditions in the poorest areas of Port Sudan are as bad as any I have seen.

The clashes in late January were largely about resources, getting a 'piece' of the national cake. And this cake is being considerably augmented by the 200,000+ barrels of oil currently being produced in the south.

The Beja, some of whom fought with opposition groups during the civil war, are worried that peace may not produce any real improvement in their lives. They are not alone. My own journeys to western Equatoria, in the far south-west of Sudan, suggest that many have the same feeling.

Ethnic tensions run high in Sudan. There will be many calls on the resources of the new government. And that government has to respond, throughout the country, by ensuring a representative mix of peoples making up its number and the even-handed distribution of resources.

In the same way, donors have to join up their strategies. They need to be aware that it is not just the areas which have seen the most fighting that are in need of development. Appalling though the situation in Darfur is, it is not the only place in need of assistance.

Some three million have lost their lives as a result of 20 years of conflict. North, south, east and west: the vast majority of Sudanese live an existence on the edge. Without an intelligent distribution of aid money, conflict is likely to be the result from those who feel left out.

The Port Sudan clashes herald changes to come and are likely to occur elsewhere. They are, in some ways, part of the bidding process of peace. How they are dealt with will be an indication of the future shape, and fate, of this troubled state.

Graham Wood is Head of Policy at Ockenden International, and has lived and worked in Africa, Asia and the Middle East for the past 20 years.