The Root Causes of Sudan's Civil Wars

Abstract

The Root Causes of Sudan's Civil Wars. By Douglas H. Johnson. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003. Pp. 256. $54.95 cloth, $24.95 paper. This is one of most sober books about Sudan conflict I have ever read. Unlike most scholars study civil war in that country as a revolting occurrence, Douglas Johnson accepts it as a matter of fact and history, referencing American Civil War, the war of ten thousand nasty incidents (p. xx). To level field for this cool-headed approach, author takes issue with representations of war by media, humanist lobbies, and academicians. Journalists cover war in atavistic terms spelling a return Heart of Darkness (p. xiv). Humanitarian pressure groups are romantic and imbued with ideal of justice both abstract and absolute. Academics continue write history of country vantage point and perspective of central institutions of Muslim North, relegating rest of country to exotic (pp. xv-xvi). The first victim of this reassessment of North-South conflict in Sudan is popular, almost revered, conception that Sudan civil war stems from an age-old confrontation between 'cultures' defined by blood lines ('Arabs' v. 'Africans') (p. xiii). Instead Johnson suggests that root cause of conflict is better looked for in country's traditions of governance, particularly a tradition of governance he calls state. First installed by Turkish conquerors in 1821, this state has reproduced itself irrespective of identity of rulers, be they foreigner or Sudanese. This exploitative state in North impoverished its Muslim subjects, who passed on their losses non-Muslims on (p. 5). In Nimeiri years this state invested in mechanized farming in Kordofan and Darfur, hastening economic and social dislocation of herders and farmers. Those dislocated fought with periphery people of South and Nuba Mountains over resources. According Johnson, IMF and UNDP are also implicated in working of Sudanic state; they bought foundational politics of state as plans for developing rural areas. Even recurrence of slavery in context of civil war is attributed impoverished Baggara, passed their own losses onto Southern Sudanese. By taking Southern captives, Baggara add labor their own households and increase their incomes through trade and exchange of slaves (p. 157). Johnson puts governance rather than identity politics at center of any meaningful analysis of Southern Sudan predicament. …