Page 87 - EVOLUTION OF THE SUDAN PEOPLE’S LIBERATION MOVEMENT(SPLM),

program and fundamentals that brought the people together.

All national liberation movements are concerned about the economic policy and models of social
engagement. Cabral has noted that true liberation meant liberation of productive forces and

promotion of a welfare state from the outset. The liberal peace model betrayed that cause and
predictably failed to revamp the economy as opposed to the MPLA and FRELIMO in Angola and
Mozambique respectively. Endowed with oil, the two liberation movements used petro dollar
to reconstruct the country and politically engineer development. In South Sudan, millions of

dollars meant for reconstruction went into rent seeking activities and corruption shared among
Non-Governmental Organizations and SPLM. In fact most of the money was simply stolen by
senior military and political figures. The SPLM could not overcome their own weaknesses as
they succumbed to neo colonial machinations making the country a failed state. In particular, the

movement failed to address the legacy of war, foster social cohesion, and initiate dialogue among
communities to cultivate a sense of nation hood and a social glue to hold the country together.

The war in South Sudan had the following ramifications. Firstly, it destroyed the infrastructure
and internally displaced millions leading to brain drain and economic decline.

“Many of our learned people fled to other nations .They were in support of other ways of
governance other than militarism which the movement was applying. Lot of our people are still
scattered all over East African States. We never witnessed substantial economic growth after
political independence. Our oil “killed us” and disoriented our leaders ‘thinking”.(OI, Timothy

Thowl, 19/03/2017).

Others include large fiscal deficits due to high military expenditure, disruption of external
trade and increased number of people in need of social assistance. In other words, there was no

reduction of risk factors that triggered war in 1983 thus what the SPLM did was just to recreate
the past hence persistent civil war soon as the champagne was uncorked.

6.3. Conclusion

We have noted that Cabral’s political thought and theory did not see the revolution or capture of
the state power as an end in itself. The national liberation struggle had to improve the material
conditions of the people especially the poor who carried the burden of the struggle. In other

words the national liberation struggle had to deliver social benefits in post-colonial situation. The
political party and organs leading the struggle had to nurture leadership and seek external support
to defeat the triple challenges Cabral defined and theorized of imperialism, colonialism and
neo colonialism. This chapter noted that the SPLM betrayed the struggle for national liberation
by dwelling on the irrelevant issues of power struggle among the elites and militarization of

politics in a manner that prioritizes the military over political. The effects of such mistakes of
commission and omission were the persistent outbreaks of civil wars at every turn of national
development and disintegration of the state and state institutions. Furthermore, the chapter noted

overall failure by the SPLM to address the national and social question throughout the struggle
and even after 2011. The SPLM has been unable to minimize the conflicts and contradictions
81