Page 22 - EVOLUTION OF THE SUDAN PEOPLE’S LIBERATION MOVEMENT(SPLM),

of this conflict, as Deng writes, is that “the historical process that has separated the Arab Muslim North
and the African South has its roots in the Arabization and Islamization of the North and in the resistance
to those forces in the South. The assimilation processes favored the Arab religion and culture over African

race, religions, and cultures, which remained prevalent in the South” (Deng, 1995, 9). The strands of this
Northern hegemony go back to the days of Sudan’s administration as a colony of Great Britain. The British
put greater stock into the success of the North, thus leaving the South mostly to survive on its own in a
premodern existence. The British merely wanted to keep order in the South; they were not interested in

establishing a fully functioning political society there (Deng 1995, 11). Thus, the North was primed to
assert its dominion over the South when the country finally gained its independence.

The extents to which the competing priorities and goals are resolved are dependent on the manner
of external intervention. Although national liberation movements are defined by armed struggle,

there are few cases where their absolute military victory was registered rather power transfer was
negotiated between parties. The political settlement that was reached is not only conservative
but also the balance of power was always in favor of the international capital and the incoming
petty bourgeoisie who were the strategic elites in the national liberation struggle. According to

Leys, most of them were comprador bourgeoisie with insatiable greed for casino economy as
opposed to productive finance and production. Thus, the settlements reached not only betray but
also reinforced reactionary tendencies that have always characterized the liberation movements
in the initial period of the struggle.

The international environment determines the policies that national liberation movements pursue
and the manner in which post liberation politics is conducted. The most recent studies have
been done on the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa and the quality of political
leadership once it assumed power and concludes that the movement pursued conservative

economic policies that marginalized its traditional support base leading to factionalism and
dissent from within the party and formation of alternative political parties by dissenting members
of the ruling party. (Sampie, 1997). The formation of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/

Army (SPLM) in 1983 and subsequent negotiations that culminated with political independence
had similar hallmarks. From socialists’ aspirations to neoliberal political settlement, the national
liberation movement has occasionally failed to address the traditional challenges that all liberation
movements in Africa faced. Studies on how SPLM has addressed challenges of state and nation
building has received very little or no scholarly attention and as such it is timely to investigate the

extent to which SPLM is addressing the emerging challenges of both state and nation building.

This study specifically focuses on the SPLM, seeking to analyze how it has addressed both the
social and national questions after capturing state power and declaring independence in 2011.
Academic literature produced on South Sudan during the war centers on the struggle amongst

the North and the South with reference to Southern identity. The SPLM’s armed struggle is
presented as a legitimate struggle against a government perceived as oppressive, exploitative and
illegitimate. This perspective does not take into consideration how SPLM was or is perceived

by the Southern Sudanese. Was it regarded as a liberation movement or an invading army for
example? Could it be regarded as the authentic voice of the people of South Sudan? This is
not without interest since the people sympathetic to the movement generally wrote most of the
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