Weekly Press Columns Digest
11 October, 2020
KHARTOUM (Sudanow) – This week’s digest reviews some most-noted columnists’ views on certain headline issues of the foregoing week.
Commenting on the recently signed Juba peace deals, Mr. Eltahir Satti, chief editor of ‘Elsaiha’, wrote a column entitled ‘habab-elsalam’, i.e. ‘Welcome Peace’, in which he hailed the role played by South Sudan government and its people in arranging a convenient platform for Sudan’s peace negotiations. Eltahir also gave a vote of thanks to the Sudanese peace negotiating teams on both sides (government and armed factions) for making possible the realization of one top objective and emblem of December revolution (i.e. peace).
Columnist Eltahir then urged the peace-deal signatories for armed struggle movements to let go of political rhetoric and revenge grudges (falsely termed ‘revolutionary spirit’) and follow suit the famous stand by late SPLM leader John Garang, upon signing of Naivasha peace deal, when he declared highly-esteemed themes and development programs on top of which was his noted theme of ‘taking urbanization to rural population’.
Then the writer gave his understanding of how to take urbanization to rural population numerating a number of measures such as providing convenient production infrastructures and inputs for rural areas in order to retain rural producers and reverse the rural-to-urban migration, as well as equitable distribution of basic services, utilities, education and medical care institutions to avoid influx of people from rural areas to urban towns in search of learning opportunities and medical treatment.
In conclusion the writer reiterates that the long-aspired-for peace by conflict-stricken population of Blue Nile and Darfur states is not one that is only confined to the ‘sharing of power and wealth’, as promoted by many activists, but rather a peace that prepares the ground and paves the way for production, peaceful coexistence, and tolerance in spite of ethnic, colour and religious differences.
On a final note Mr. Eltahir sums up his message by stressing the need for peaceful coexistence and alleviation of poverty, highlighting the fact that all fanatic and extremist movements such as Alqaeda, ISIS, Tamil Tigers, etc usually find nurturing soil and dig deep roots within regions that are entangled in conflicts and poverty.
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Othman Mirghani, Editor-in-Chief of ‘Eltayyar’ newspaper, wrote an article entitled ‘East Sudan: Final Reminder’, commenting on the increasing tensions in east Sudan that culminated in the lockdown of Port Sudan southern seaport harbour and the recent tragic fatal stabbing of a police officer by a so-called bandit.
Journalist Othman played down the claims that there are ethnic and tribal drives behind the events in East Sudan, and sums up the whole driving motive behind the crisis in one word, which is ‘Indifference’, arguing that eastern Sudan has been receiving influxes of migrants for thousands of years and has never shown any such tensions or braches of social texture among its various community components, at any time of its history. But, he put it bluntly, due to accumulated negligence and the resort to easy security heavy-handed solutions by various governments, in face of social and economic injustice, deep grudges and grievances have dug roots among various communal groups.
The writer further confirms that communal and tribal leaders of eastern Sudan have all the time been ringing the bells and sending warning messages to the central government to the effect that it is never wise to turn deaf ears to the rising tensions and accumulated grievances in the east. But the central government has always thought it convenient to send short-term delegations that conclude easily-negotiated temporary arrangements and head back to Khartoum leaving behind flashes of fire under the ash.
In summing up his ‘final reminder’ journalist Othman proposes two pathways to solve the eastern Sudan dilemma: the first pathway is to revise the recent political decrees that had acted as drivers behind the current conflict; namely, the east-track negotiation team in Juba peace talks and nomination of the governor of Kassala state. The other pathway, as proposed by journalist Othman, is to address the eastern Sudan problems at grass-root levels in order to come out with comprehensive and equitable solutions for the issues of underdevelopment and economic marginalization in the region.
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Journalist Sabah Mohammed Elhasan of ‘Eljareeda’ newspaper wrote about the prolonged living-bread bottlenecks, likening the lengthy lines of citizens standing almost all day long under the sun heat in front of bakeries all over the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, to penalized soldiers in military barracks.
She lamented the lack of action by all relevant authorities, including the ministry of industry and trade, the ministry of finance, and the Khartoum state governor, towards solving this chronic living-bread problem. She states that the revolutionaries have put faith in those nominated officials believing them to be saviors, but instead of solving the crisis they, themselves, have become part of the problem after assuming office.
Therefore, the writer applauded the warning notice issued by the Resistance Committees of Khartoum state granting the transitional government a five-day grace period to come up with a practical and swift solution to the problem. Otherwise, the resistance committees would have a free hand to use all available peaceful methods to identify the real culprits behind the living-bread crisis and take actions that preserve dignified living standards for Sudanese citizens.
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