Beyond the Bubble

On Jan. 9, citizens of South Sudan began the seven-day process of voting for their independence. The vote represents the culmination of a desperate 50-year struggle of South Sudanese citizens to secede from their neighbors to the North. Government officials from both sides will continue to discuss the terms under which the largest country on the African continent might be divided in two.

South Sudanese liberators have had to overcome a series of unthinkable obstacles. In the earliest days, the freedom fighters clashed militarily with much more heavily trained soldiers from the North. They had no money for proper equipment, as many in the region live on less than 75 cents per day, so they began fighting with their hands. As the unlikely rebel force continued to regain territory from the Northern government, they amassed machetes, Molotov cocktails and guns. This guerilla warfare resulted in the death of over two million Sudanese citizens.

While the independence vote became popular cause in recent years, for many decades the international community largely ignored the plight of the South Sudanese liberators. Though humanitarian groups attempted to provide aid to the struggling citizens of the region, diplomatic aid remained largely absent.

This tide has shifted in recent years however, with American government officials, Christian rights groups and celebrities alike taking up the cause.

In 2005 the Bush government mediated negotiation between North and South officials. The talks proved successful, and a peace treaty was signed. Such diplomatic actions have halted the fighting between the two opposing forces and paved the way for current talks.

Christian rights groups worldwide have also taken up the cause of the South Sudanese people. Citing the religious persecution of their fellow spiritual devotees, they have called on the primarily Muslim, northern population to cease fighting with their Christian neighbors from the south. Though the religious and ethnic lines throughout the region seem much more blurred than Christian rights groups claim, such pressure has proved successful in bringing attention to the cause of the South’s liberation movement.

Celebrity involvement has also helped bring this issue to the attention of a wider audience. As The Globe and Mail noted, “Film star George Clooney flew into Southern Sudan this week to monitor the referendum, with moral support from Hollywood pals such as Brad Pitt and Matt Damon.”

In order for the north to recognize the legitimacy of the vote, there must be a turnout of at least 60 percent of registered voters. The majority of these citizens must vote for secession.

In order to try and encourage south Sudanese people to vote, their government officials have tried to make the process as simple and accommodating as possible.

The majority of possible voters are nomadic herders for whom it will take over one day to walk to a polling station. In light of these facts, South Sudanese officials have decided that the vote will occur over seven consecutive days.

Political officials have also tried to simplify the actual process of voting to combat illiteracy. Ballots are not written in English, Arabic or any native dialects, but will instead use symbols to illustrate state unity or schism. The first symbol shows two hands clasped together in solidarity, representing a unified country; the second symbol will show two hands open, with one hand directed away, as if weaving goodbye. In order to voice their option voters need only dip their finger in ink and draw a circle over the symbol they wish to select.

Although this vote for independence has generated much excitement, many remain unsure of the fate of the Sudanese people if they are successful in the secession movement.

The Southern half of the state has a much less developed infrastructure than its northern region. There are very few roads within the South’s territory, and levels of sanitation and education are lower than in the North. On average the southern part of the state also has higher levels of infant mortality and greater food insecurity.

The unequal distribution of natural resources has also been a point of contention in recent years, as the two sides have struggled to reach consensus during peace talks. Though the South contains more of the oil fields within the state, the North claims that 50 percent of the resources within these reserves are theirs for the taking.

The former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) government that has taken control over Southern Sudan is largely inexperienced. Evidence of this fact was seen last year when the government unveiled plans for new southern cities shaped in the form of animals and fruit. As one BBC report seems to sarcastically note, “The reason for these shapes is not entirely illogical — they match the symbols that appear on the flags of southern Sudan's states.”

If initial plans are carried out, the new capital city of Juba will be shaped as a rhinoceros, with the office of the regional president situated where the rhino’s eyes should be.

Humorously, the BBC also noted, “In Wau, the sewage treatment plant is appropriately placed under the giraffe's tail.”

While a vote for the independence African citizens, so illogically grouped together during de-colonization seems progressive endeavor; such actions could spell disaster with such a weak infrastructure in place. Intervention from abroad, though effective in certain instances, must be wary of being heavy-handed. This vote represents a movement undertaken by south Sudanese citizens for their own independence — the popular will of the people must be allowed to decide the nation’s fate.