January 2014
n a i l l i v e z n o r B e th
nt Suppleme A newsletter from the An electronic newsletter from the Department of African African American American and and African African Studies Studies Community Extension Extension Center Center Community
Our One-Year Anniversary By: Judson L. Jeffries, Ph.D. Pages 1: Our One-Year Anniversary – Judson L. Jeffries, Ph.D. Pages 4, 6: Motown on Broadway – Bobbie Benjamin Smith Pages 7-10: Negotiating peace in South Sudan: Democracy, politics and armed movements – Christopher Zambakari and Tarnjeet K. Kang Ads Page 3: The Math and Science Program Page 5: Free Health Screenings
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his month marks the one year anniversary of the Bronzevillian Supplement, the Department of African American and African Studies Community Extension Center’s electronic newsletter. Over the past twelve months, we have endeavored to cover those issues, events and personalities that we thought you’d find most interesting. Among those who have contributed articles are professors, both in the U.S. and abroad, local residents, graduate students, activists, professionals of varying kind including teachers, journalists and attorneys. The response has been tremendous. Comments from readers suggest they are appreciative of the pieces that are not only intended to abreast readers of the goings on in the city, state and nation, but are intended to raise people’s consciousness. While our focus is the African world, within our pages you will find articles about an array of people and topics that merit comment. Reviews of books and films can also be found in the Bronzevillian Supplement. Our writers are not afraid to broach the delicate or tackle the controversial. This issue, our first of the year, is dedicated to the memory of Amiri Baraka, one of the Black Power Movement’s towering figures and a principal architect of the Black Arts Movement, a movement within the Black Power Movement. Baraka was to the Black artistic creative expression what Gordon Parks was to photography and Paul Robeson was to theater. Baraka was jazz, R&B and hip-hop all rolled into one. No wonder Baraka counted among those who influenced him: Malcolm X, Allen Ginsberg and John Coltrane. Said my father, who like Baraka, was reared in Jersey, but who hails from a generation that still refers to Ali as Cassius and Abdul-Jabbar as Lew: “LeRoi was a big man in the Black Arts scene . . . everybody knew who LeRoi was.” Baraka, the former Poet Laureate of New Jersey, died last Thursday at the age of seventy nine. His works, which include the 1963 Blues People: Negro Music in White America and the Dutchman are standard bearers in those genres. In my view none of his playwright contemporaries, not Loften Mitchell, Julian Mayfied or Lorraine Hansberry was as artistically creative or outrageously bold as Baraka. Baraka was among a generation of freedom fighters, highly-accomplished intellectuals and writers who are leaving behind both a body of work and a legacy of activism that I can only hope that my generation has the fortitude to build on.
Department of African American and African Studies Community Extension Center 905 Mount Vernon Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43203-1413
Phone: (614) 292-3922 Fax: (614) 292-3892 http://aaascec.osu.edu aaascec@osu.edu
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of the CEC 12Core Programs 6 T he Ohio State University’s AAAS Community Extension Center is the outreach component of the Department of African American and African Studies. The CEC is one of the few off-campus facilities of its kind in the nation. Originally housed at two different locations on Ohio Avenue, the CEC moved to its current location in 1986. The CEC plays an integral role in enhancing the life chances of those who live in and around the Mount Vernon Avenue Area. Toward that end, the CEC offers an array of programs at no or nominal cost to the public. Programs include, but are not limited to, the following: conferences, symposia, computer classes, credit and noncredit courses, summer programs, lecture series, and film series. People from all walks of life have participated in these programs. Based on evaluations of our programs and personal testimonies, the CEC is having an impact on residents living in and around the Bronzeville Neighborhood.
1 Black Veterans Day Salute During the salute, Black men and women from Ohio who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces are publicly recognized. Since the salute’s inception in 2006, the CEC has honored the Tuskegee Airmen (2006), Vietnam War veterans (2007), Korean War veterans (2008), African-American servicewomen (2009), World War II veterans (2010), Gulf War Era veterans (2011) and Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom Veterans (2012).
2 Ray Miller Institute for Change & Leadership This 10-week long leadership course trains young Black professionals from the Columbus community in various areas of leadership. The Institute was founded in 2006 by former State Senator and Minority Whip Ray Miller. Miller has built a reputation as a strong advocate for those who have historically not had access to power. Admission to the Institute is highly competitive. The Institute is offered during OSU’s autumn and spring semesters with the support of OSU’s Office of Continuing Education. Participants who complete the course receive three CEU credits.
3 Senior Citizens Movie Matinee The movie matinee is a chance for senior citizens to watch a film that otherwise might be cost prohibitive in an accommodating environment. A discussion, usually led by an OSU professor or administrator, is held at the end of the film.
4 Computer Literacy Program Throughout the academic year, the CEC offers free and reduced-cost computer technology courses. The program is geared toward seniors but open to everyone. Courses include the following: Senior Computer Orientation, Internet, Email, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Publisher.
5 Lecture Series Presentations given by OSU faculty, students and/or community members about topics pertinent to the Black community.
Math and Science Program
The Math and Science Program was established in partnership with the OSU Medical Center in 2003. The Math and Science Program exposes students in grades 4 through 12 to the wonders of math and science using hands-on activities. The purpose of the program is three-fold: 1) To increase competency in math and science among students of color; 2) To expose students of color to math and science related careers; and 3) To encourage students of color to major in math or science. The program meets on the fourth Monday of each month from October to May.
7 Summer Residential Program The Summer Residential Program (SRP) was established in 1999 and is designed to provide students with both an appreciation for and an understanding of African-American and African culture and history. The SRP also helps students strengthen their computer literacy skills. Past themes include: “The Underground Railroad” (2012), “All Eyez On Me: Deconstructing Images of African-American Women in Hip Hop” (2011), “letz b down: Social Justice Advocacy for Blacks During the American Revolutionary War Era” (2010), “The Low Country: Black Culture, Literacy and History in Charleston, South Carolina” (2009), and “Hip Hop Literacies” (2008). The program is held every June and is for rising 11th and 12th graders. Students live on OSU’s campus.
8 African Affairs Symposium This one-day symposium brings members of the African American and African communities together to discuss issues of particular interest to Africa. The inaugural symposium in 2007 examined the life of South African civil rights activist Steve Biko. “Africa in the Age of Globalization” was the theme of the 2008 symposium. The 2009 symposium examined the life of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana, West Africa. In 2010, the focus was on Pan-Africanism and the Diaspora. The Democratic Republic of the Congo was the theme of the 2011 symposium.
9 Summer Enrichment Program This week-long, non-residential day program is designed to help rising 9th and 10th graders improve their reading and writing skills. The program, which was founded in 2009, is hosted annually in June and accepts approximately 15 students.
10 History of Black Columbus Conference This one-day conference celebrates the rich history of African Americans in Columbus and increases awareness of the significant contributions African Americans have made in all areas of city life. This annual conference is held in the spring.
11 Black History Month Forum The forum is in its fourth year and is focused on celebrating African descended peoples from all over the world. This year, documentaries about the following influential Black historical figures were shown: John Henrik Clarke, Kwame Nkrumah, Fannie Lou Hamer, James Baldwin, Minister Elijah Muhummad.
12 Enemies of the State The annual event features activists from America’s most notorious radical organizations, people who pressured America to live up to its highest ideals. In past years, activists from The Us Organization (2012), The Black Panther Party (2011) and the Young Lords Organization (2010) were invited to speak.
About Bronzeville During the 1930s, African-American leaders in Columbus named the predominately African-American neighborhood between the boundaries of Woodland Avenue (East), Cleveland Avenue (West), Broad Street (South) and the railroad tracks (North) “Bronzeville.” The population was approximately 40,000 residents. In 1937, the same African-American leaders elected a mayor of Bronzeville and created an eight member Cabinet to address social, political and economic issues in the neighborhood. Now, as a result of the establishment of several Neighborhood Civic Associations such as the Woodland Civic Association (East) and the Discovery District (West), Bronzeville was reduced to its current boundaries: Taylor Avenue (East), Jefferson Avenue (West), Broad Street (South), and I-670 (North). The Bronzevillian is inspired by this rich history.
CEC Advisory Board Paul Cook Wanda Dillard Francisca Figueroa-Jackson Mark S. Froehlich Ray Miller, former State Senator Lupenga Mphande, Ph.D. William E. Nelson, Jr., Ph.D. (Deceased) *Ike Newsum, Ph.D. and Chair Rick Pfeiffer, City Attorney Thomas Simpson, Ph.D. Reita Smith Charleta Tavares, State Senator Nana Watson
CEC Director *Judson L. Jeffries, Ph.D.
CEC Staff Sarah Twitty Senior Program Coordinator & Fiscal Officer Kevin L. Brooks, Ph.D. Program Coordinator Alecia Shipe Technology Program Coordinator
Address Department of African American and African Studies Community Extension Center 905 Mount Vernon Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43203-1413 *Ex officio members.
the Bronzevillian Supplement January 2014
The Math and Science Program
There is time to enroll your child into the Math and Science Program. For questions please call 614-292-3922 or visit http://aaascec.osu.edu
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MOTOWN ON BROADWAY By: Bobbie Benjamin Smith
A phenomenon! That’s what Motown was! When I was a young girl growing up in rural South Carolina, it never occurred to me that a mechanism called Motown was the engine that kept my friends and me dancing and singing to tunes like “You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me,” “Get A Job,” “Shop Around,” “That is Why,” and “Who’s Loving You.” At the time, we didn’t give much thought to the source; we just loved the relief and release the music brought from the constant discrimination that was our reality. We felt free when Disc Jockey Moe The Rooster played our record requests on the radio or at the school dance parties, and we felt anticipation and exhilaration when we shoved our hard-earned dimes and nickels into the huge jukeboxes along Atlantic Beach’s open dance halls. Finally after a one -and-a-half-hour ride on an old tour bus along the two-lane highway behind farm tractors (which slowed our progress toward our summertime goal of getting to the black section of the beach to show off our community’s newest dance moves), we had arrived. The waves rolled gently up on the sandy beach, and we rushed up the flight of steps to friendly impromptu and unspoken dance competition between groups who’d made a similar trip from other rural or urban locations around the Carolinas. And now, from the big old jukebox on the dance hall which opened to a backdrop of ocean waves, sunny skies and sandy beaches, we were being greeted by what almost seemed like a live concert from Jackie Wilson, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, James Brown, the Temptations, the Supremes, the Jackson Five and more! Togetherness, music, rhythm…Nothing else mattered or even existed for those few hours.
Across the country, that Motown engine was stirring similar but different emotions among the young and old alike. The causes of those emotions may have been different, but the effect was unanimous. It was a call to some kind of action…whatever action your situation and your environment were driving. There was unity in the emotions the music evoked, and there was conflict in it as well…like a group of ocean waves ascending and descending, uniting or clashing until they merged and formed something new…some new waves that would either float you gently in to shore or violently carry you out to sea. “Bring The Boys Home” prompted the students (who were already voicing their disagreement with the Vietnam War) to clash in a riot on Wall Street with the construction workers who were dutifully building the World Trade Center at the same time. I watched this conflict myself from my office window at 20 Pine Street as the older patriots and the rebellious young allowed the subliminal engine to move this emotional process. “Get A Job” really did inspire us to find meaningful work and take responsibility for changing our lives and the lives of those around us, to sit in at segregated lunch counters and theaters, to march or go to jail for freedom TO get a decent job, to fight for voting rights, and “Shop Around" inspired us to select rather than settle. Behind all of the emotions and actions we were feeling or taking, there was indeed an intensive and intentional force called Motown. This engine continued to drive the machine until it became a beloved dynasty providing not just entertainment, but inspiration, employment, stability, a sense of community, benefits, spirituality, and respect for its people and the city of Detroit and influencing satellites of itself around the country. Eventually, though, external political and economic forces impacted this great machine. Motown had moved from the base upon which it had been built to the new West Coast location, and in so doing had given up far too much of the internal control upon which it had been established. The structure upon which it had stood for so long weakened, for how can a cornerstone be moved without compromising the foundation of a building…it’s principles? Unable to sustain itself in its new environment, the Motown empire slowly crumbled, and as the engine failed, so did many of the components she had influenced. Fortunately, the foundation upon which so many of the stars had risen to fame had been strong, and some individual acts went on to attain even greater popularity. The city in which she was born was not so fortunate. The two-hour Broadway depiction of the Motown journey was chronicled as well as could be expected within that short time frame. But how does one recreate a phenomenon? I’m not sure that it’s possible. The artistic production was excellent, though! The choreography, singing, set and orchestration were superb, especially Continued on page 6
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FREE HEALTH SCREENINGS!
FREE HEALTH SCREENINGS!!!! Nursing students and faculty from The Ohio State University, College of Nursing will provide FREE health screenings to community members. Screenings include BLOOD PRESSURE CHECKS and BLOOD SUGAR CHECKS. Location: African American and African Studies Community Extension Center 905 Mount Vernon Avenue Columbus, OH 43203 Date:
Tuesday, January 28, 2014 Tuesday, February 4, 2014 Tuesday, February 11, 2014 (Health Fair)
Time: 10 am to 2 pm
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young Prince George Maynard in the roles of Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder, Bryan Terrell Clark portraying Marvin Gaye, Crystal Joy as Mary Wells, Felicia Boswell as Dianna Ross, Charl Brown as Smokey Robinson, and Brandon Victor Dixon as Berry Gordy. I had hoped to see more of a depiction of Tammi Terrell, though. “This play was very emotional for me”, said Betty, one of our group of ten friends and family members who attended the production together on November 10, 2013. “It took me back to times that my husband and I shared before he passed.” “Many people don’t realize that Smokey Robinson was not only a singer at Motown, but that he actually wrote many of the songs that some of the other Motown singers sang”, said Joyce as she expressed her feelings about the interconnections Motown spawned. Jamia shared that “The Motown musical had me reliving all of the great music, performers and great times during that era”, Delia was “… really impressed with the authenticity of the actors,” and Beatrice offered that “Words cannot describe the nostalgic impact that Baby Love, Cruisin, I’ll Be There, Get Ready, and Heatwave (from the most beloved record label and singers in the history of music) had on me.” “Awesome and exhilarating”, said my daughter Crystal, a Gen Xer who enjoyed the entertainment and her interaction with the cast, but wasn’t yet around when the phenomenon of Motown was at its peak. If you’re a Baby Boomer or a Traditionalist, you’ll really enjoy this event and will probably want to see it again and again both for the entertainment value and the nostalgia. I wonder if it’ll play in Detroit when it begins to tour, and I wonder how much the city of Detroit will benefit from its popularity on Broadway.
Photo courtesy of www.broadwaysbestshows.com
Photo courtesy of www.broadway.com
Photo courtesy of www.timeout.com
Photo courtesy of www.broadwaysbestshows.com
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Negotiating peace in South Sudan: Democracy, politics and armed movements By: Christopher Zambakari and Tarnjeet K. Kang
In less than three years since South Sudan voted in a historic referendum for secession, the new republic is engulfed in what is the most serious political crisis since independence. What started off as an exchange between soldiers in the military barracks in Juba, the capital city of South Sudan, has since engulfed the whole country. The death toll is estimated to be in the thousands.[1] The media and many political analysts have framed the crisis as a conflict between two men, Salva Kiir, the current President of South Sudan, and Riek Machar, his former deputy. Worse yet, many have reduced the political crisis to a tribal conflict. The formulation of both problems, one between political adversaries and the other tribal, obscures the deeper issues affecting the ruling political party, the army, and the nation-building process. In the next section we will highlight the deeper issues fueling violence, the fragmentation within the army, and the way forward out of the current crisis. The limited context behind some of the current analysis available ignores the historical and political factors that have contributed to the situation, and instead creates an analysis that portrays the conflict in a vacuum. A durable solution is premised on the problem being correctly diagnosed. Since December 15, over 1,000 civilians have been killed, more than 194,000 displaced [2] and several thousand injured. As of Monday, according to UN sources, refugees have begun crossing the border into neighboring countries: 16,000 to Uganda, 10,000 to Ethiopia and 3,000 to Kenya, and many more to Sudan in the north. [3] This return to displacement in South Sudan impacts neighbouring countries as well as they host refugee communities. PUTTING THE CRISIS IN CONTEXT The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2005 created an opportunity for South Sudan to finally begin building a governance infrastructure that was made up of representatives of the South Sudanese people, a governance practice that had been inhibited since the beginning of colonialism. While a national government was created, it did not develop into a strong democracy that adequately meets the needs of its citizens, nor did it allow for democratic practices such as diversity in opinion and political allegiance to flourish. Initial promises for a decentralized approach to allow for the representation of South Sudanese citizens in all parts of the country soon gave away to a centralization of power in the hands of legislators based in the capital, Juba. The nature and origin of the current conflict has been debated. Mahmood Mamdani, Professor and Executive Director of the Makerere Institute of Social Research, Kampala, outrightly dismissed the framing of the issue by the government as an “attempted coup.” In his analysis to Al Jazeera he wrote that it: “is neither an attempted coup nor a rebel attempt to take over government. In reality, Sudan, to the north, is likely to hold the trump card when it comes to influencing the outcome of the conflict in South Sudan. The call for power sharing in South Sudan ignores a central fact: rather than a conflict between two mutually exclusive powers, this conflict resulted from a split in power to begin with. The question now is how to reconstitute that power.” [4] Writing in Foreign Affairs, Alex de Waal, Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation at the Fletcher School at Tufts University and Abdul Mohammed, the Chief of Staff of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel for Sudan and South Sudan, located the crisis with the ruling elites, the political party, and the structure of the army. The authors accused the ruling elites of being “more interested in power than in doing the hard work of nation building.” [5] They concluded that: “Today’s crisis shows that South Sudan’s leaders have failed. But after this false start, the crisis could become an opportunity for a comprehensive rethink of its national project.” [6] Their analysis called for a political reform of the ruling party and the army. Douglas Johnson, an expert on Sudanese history noted correctly that “what we are seeing in South Sudan is the convergence of two parallel conflicts that have been developing over time.” [7] This fact makes it impossible to now disentangle both conflicts and resolve them separately. CRISIS WITHIN SPLM/A The current crisis is political. It is rooted within the ruling political party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), as well as its military wing, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). Dr. Peter A. Nyaba, a South Sudanese leader and former Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, offered the most insightful analysis of the genesis of the current crisis. In ‘Politics of Liberation in South Sudan: An Insider's View’, he distinguished between the “movement” and the “army” and critiqued both.
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“The “M” (for Movement) in the SPLM/A was always nominal. It did not have a life of its own. … The militarists rigidly identified and dedicated the liberation process to armed struggle and made their political fate totally dependent on it, thereby producing the militarist elite whose existence and survival became linked with the continuation of war. … the “A” was the dominant and the strategic factor in decision making. This inadvertently reduced, with serious consequences, the capacity of the SPLM/A to absorb, organise and assimilate the then available intellectual and material resources, especially after 1989. … The SPLM/A used to behave like Siamese twins joined at the head such that any surgical operation to separate them could have resulted in their death. This paralysed both the “M” and the “A”, preventing them from developing into authentic entities in their respective professional spheres.” [8] In a recent article, written for SouthSudanNation.com, discussing the current crisis, he once again located the crisis and its origins within the ruling political party: “The SPLM dysfunction has reflects (sic) itself the dysfunctionality of South Sudan state and this explains why it has remained since July 9th 2011 under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. All that people are clamouring about as failures of the Government of South Sudan are indeed SPLM failures. The SPLM failure to organize itself with functional organs and institutions sensitive to the concerns of the citizens; the failure to evolve a political ideology has resulted in the ethnicization of SPLM power politics; the failure to institutionalise power relations within the SPLM has result in autocracy and one-man dictatorship relying on ethnic lobbies and close business associates who have turned South Sudan and its state institutions into a limited liability enterprise.” [9] Given that part of the vulnerability for conflict was built into the SPLM/A from the start in that the ruling elite failed to reform their approach to governance through democratization, Nyaba offers one solution for the country: the “total transformation of the SPLM, which ‘will definitely require profound attitudinal change towards organised political work which, above all, would mean accepting criticism and self-criticism and rejecting the attitude of equating verbal and media criticism with disloyalty.” [10] Whereas the political party is in dire need of reform, the army also needs to be restructured. From the beginning the army was composed of loosely structured militias that were fused together to form the current army. With each integration of former adversaries, the army became larger without being internally reformed. Moreover, 55 percent of South Sudan’s budget went towards defense, [11] instead of other critical sectors such as education, health, infrastructure and social welfare. Key commanders retained loyalty to their former armies and the process of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) has been plagued with failures. The consequence of which is that only 10,000 have been demobilized of an estimated 150,000 former militia. [12] Furthermore, between 2009 and 2012, thousands more people have been killed in South Sudan from various causes. [13] Most incidents leading to violent outcomes were due to the government’s inability to provide security, law and order in many parts of the country and the failure in DDR. The majority of incidents leading to death have occurred in the states of the Greater Upper Nile, where the conflict is now raging. The convergence of two conflicts in the current crisis has made it impossible to simply resolve the first issue (ongoing armed movements and inter-communal conflict that developed before and after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement) and ignore the second (exemplified by the events of December 15, 2013). In the last few months a series of radical political decisions led to fears of losing power for critical groups, and also contributed to a centralization of power into the hands of an elite political alliance. When those that disagreed with the president’s monopoly of power asked for reform of the political party, the president responded by dissolving the leadership structure of the party. This came shortly after the former Vice-President Riek Machar was fired and the government was dismantled. These decisions took place without democratic measures, increasing tensions among competing political leadership. As the conflict began among soldiers in Juba, Kiir accused Machar of staging a coup to take over the Presidency, and arrested 11 key political figures in retaliation. [14] Although all but three of these leaders have been released, the political division is ongoing. The potential for conflict and political tension was exacerbated by the lack of thorough transition from a military regime to a civilian government. The SPLM/A, which began under the leadership of John Garang, was initially structured around the goals of creating a military opposition to the regime based in Khartoum, in northern Sudan. Since secession in 2011, the transition from a military based regime to democratic, stable and long-term government structure in the post-conflict period has evidently not been completed. While it is understandable that such a transition will take time, particularly given that the SPLM/A has existed as an opposition army for decades, the change nevertheless has to occur. This includes forming a national identity and base of loyalty that supersedes allegiances to former rebel factions or to ethnicity. However, soldiers will only make this transition themselves if their leaders have already done so, and if they have established a history of being trustworthy and respectable. This will lessen their fear of being marginalized in terms of access to power, economic resources and services. A study by Mareike Schomerus [15] has shown that young men at risk of joining militias are less likely to make that decision if they can envision a viable future for them and their families – this includes the promise of access to education and employment.
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Additionally, alternative strategies of dealing with political competition, as well as dissent on the part of journalists and civilians, need to be developed for a healthy and democratic environment to emerge. Since 2011 there have been key examples across the country of the government shutting down expressions of dissent on the part of civilians [16], including peaceful movements, as well as targeting journalists that have spoken out against the government. [17] Civilians should not fear their government, nor should they doubt that they are able to access truthful information about the government’s operations and leadership. MEDIATING PEACE IN SOUTH SUDAN Peace talks began on New Year’s Day in the Ethiopian capital city, Addis Ababa, with mediators from key neighboring countries that play a critical role in regional politics; Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya. [18] These countries also comprise key leadership positions in regional bodies such as the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the African Union (AU). IGAD was created with the intention of providing East African countries with an institution to guide development efforts and support a cooperative regional bloc. [19] While it contains eight different nations, it is led by key countries in the region that are also playing a role in the current peace talks. Similarly, the African Union, which evolved from the post-colonial Organization of African Unity, was created as a continental institution that attempts to support African self-determination. [20] This transition to key African leaders maintaining a leadership role in mediation is significant as recent political discourse within Africa has advocated for the greater use of regional and continental bodies to resolve conflict, as opposed to western institutions that are alleged to be biased, favor political alliances and interests, and lack in training and knowledge for African-specific issues. This has been particularly evident in the discussion of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecution of African leaders. Unfortunately little development has been evident from peace talks in Addis Ababa thus far and conflict has continued across the country, particularly in the northeastern states of the Greater Upper Nile and the capital of Juba. The conflict in South Sudan will become a case study in the region’s history of African-mediated resolutions, and can either be held as an example of continued failure in South Sudanese leadership, or it can be heralded as an illustration of the possibilities of a government that acts in the interests of its citizens. South Sudan’s post-colonial history has been marked by failed peace agreements and temporary political appeasements brokered by external mediators. To bring a stop to cyclical regimes that do not act in the interest of the South Sudanese citizens, the current leading actors need to come to an agreement that will have a long-term impact and promote stability. With elections on the horizon in 2015, the peace talks should not end by creating an environment that allows for conflict to arise again in response to disagreement within political leadership. Rather, political practices need to develop to such a point that military action does not becomes a habitual response for disagreement. This can be facilitated by the peace talks in Addis Ababa that encourage such responsibility and leadership. In an earlier article we noted that as South Sudan is facing a political problem, a corresponding political solution is required. In the short term President Kiir and Machar needs to agree to a ceasefire and the release of political prisoners in order to make room for dialogue to resolve differences under the auspices of a regional or international organization like the African Union, UN and IGAD. [21] In another piece we asked whether a military solution could lead to durable peace. We concluded that “durable peace cannot be built on military intervention by outside actors such as Uganda.” [22] In order to build sustainable peace in South Sudan, “a democratic process, which in turn requires that all the key stakeholders be accounted for in the process leading to an agreement” is required. [23] Mamdani furthermore sees a problem of accountability in both the government and the political party. He notes that when President Kiir “dismissed both the vice chair and the secretary-general of the party, along with other senior officials, from leadership positions, the move did away with structures of accountability in both the party and the state,” [24] and that “Neither external nor internal conditions for peace are possible without a change of political perspective in IGAD and the region, and a new political leadership in South Sudan.” [25] CONCLUSION In nation and state building, experience is an important element that cannot be imported from abroad or outsourced to humanitarian agencies. Many leaders in South Sudan have opted for a quick fix and easy solutions, skipping the important process of building a durable democracy. The current crisis and violence that has engulfed South Sudan is not a stand-alone act. Instead it is a profound crisis of governance within the ruling political party and its military wing, the SPLA. No one can save South Sudan but the South Sudanese people themselves. Without resolving the societal issues facing South Sudan, democratizing the political party, opening up the political space, and addressing the root causes of the conflict, the country will only defer its problems to a later date.
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Dr. John Garang, the late Chairman and Commander-in-Chief of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) once noted that “under these circumstances the marginal cost of rebellion in the South became very small, zero or negative; that is, in the South it pays to rebel.” [26] The prevention of armed movements requires that issues that enable and motivate them be addressed. As noted elsewhere, “The bigger challenges will be political and security sector reform if violence is to be prevented in the future. This includes the transformation of the SPLM from liberation movement into a democratic political party in addition to the completion of the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of rebel groups and the professionalization of the national armed forces.” [27] Lastly, we must foreground the issues that drive the violence to have a better chance of conceiving durable solutions. The political adversaries in South Sudan have three options; the rebels could pursue a military solution, prolonging the fight in hopes of winning a decisive military victory over the government forces that have regional backing. The second option is that the government, with its regional and international support, could forgo peaceful negotiation and place its bet on defeating the rebel groups on the battlefield. The first two options are winner-takes-all; a zero-sum game. The third option is a political compromise and middle ground through a broad-based government: a transitional government in light of the forthcoming general election in 2015. In each of the options, the cost will inevitably be paid by civilians and not by the warriors. * Christopher Zambakari, Rotary Peace Fellow, is Doctor of Law and Policy, University of Queensland, Australia, & Tarnjeet K. Kang, Ph.D. Student, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.