While the masses of Sudanese people inside and outside the country cry for peace and for an end to Sudan’s long and bloody civil war, which has claimed over two million lives and displaced twice that number, our political leaders appear to be in a shambles and in complete disarray. What is more disturbing for many of us is that they have allowed mediators with vast interests in Sudan to get control over the peace process. Their influence on the situation has become apparent and itself becomes a real obstacle to the achievement of lasting peace in Sudan. Many Sudanese have began to wonder what peace are we contemplating? Is it a kind of the old Roman Peace we want? Or do we really seek a genuine comprehensive settlement for our country.
Peter Moszynski
The continuing aftershocks of the horrific attack on New York have probably changed the geopolitical shape of the world even more than the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.
Reports from reliable sources in Dilling have just came in alleging that on 30 September members of the Government security intelligence detained more than 300 civilians from villages in Korongo, Abusunoon and Sugolle on suspicion of being SPLA sympathisers. No one knows the whereablouts of these people and it is feared that their lives are at risk of persecution. Many civilians fled from the area to seek safety in the nearby mountain tops.
From the time that it seized power in Khartoum in June 1989 the regime has successfully used a policy of "divide and rule" in its war in the Nuba Mountains. This policy is known in the Sudanese arena as "kill a slave with a slave" and is a hidden way of eradicating the Nuba and their cultural identity.
The United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) which was supposed to start its humanitarian relief mission to the Nuba Mountains in September - after long delays in achieving clearance from Khartoum - has been suspended following the sad events which took place in New York and Washington on 11 September.