South Sudan is like one big laboratory. This new state on the world map – since July 9, 2011 – has unique opportunities for development, but at the same time it balances on the edge of an abyss. Can this vast country harness the potential of its mineral and natural wealth for the benefit of its people and become a successful textbook African example? Or will it fall into the trap and, like many other developing states, ultimately flounder in a vicious circle of violence and external and internal conflicts, corruption and tribal clientelism? And what meaning does and did the ten-year work of Slovak organizations in this country have?
Marián Čaučík, director of the caroling campaign Dobrá novina, from whose collections hospitals are being built and schools financed in South Sudan, is an optimist. "I see the progress that has been achieved over the more than ten years we have been working there. Although it is not huge from the perspective of European norms, compared to what was there, or rather was not there, it is advancing by leaps and bounds," says Čaučík. The Government of South Sudan might one day have to award him honorary citizenship of the country for his activity in Slovakia on behalf of South Sudan.
But, of course, the government of South Sudan now, after declaring an independent state and assuming full responsibility for its fate, has completely different worries. For example, securing such "ordinary" things as a network of at least primary and secondary schools, preparing curricula and procuring textbooks, a network of hospitals and health facilities, but also asphalt at least on main roads and airport runways, or building wells, irrigation systems, water supply systems, electrical equipment and distribution networks... None of that existed in South Sudan for many years. Schools, hospitals, wells were gradually built by non-governmental organizations even during the war. In South Sudan, everything is being built in a situation where the vast majority of the population has never attended school and has known nothing other than a state of war.
Scars of War
The war between northern and southern Sudan (once the largest country in Africa) lasted, with interruptions, from the declaration of independence from British colonial rule in 1956 until the signing of the peace agreement in 2005. On its basis, South Sudan gained autonomy, and in January 2011 a referendum was held on the future status of the country. Nearly 99 percent of South Sudan's population voted for independence. Khartoum respected the referendum results.
However, the long civil war left other consequences besides loss of life and "lost generations." Distrust and related unresolved issues of mutual relations between the former warring parties. These – unfortunately – can lead to new conflicts and overall instability in the region.
On the day Sudan split and South Sudan was created, the borders between north and south were not clearly demarcated. The dispute is especially over the border area of Abyei, where oil deposits are located and which was also supposed to decide in a referendum whether to remain under northern administration or join the south. The referendum was postponed, and a few weeks before the division of Sudan, the northern army occupied it. Thousands of people fled again until both sides finally agreed on the creation of a demilitarized zone and the deployment of Ethiopian UN troops.
Settling scores from the war years, or perhaps a bloody prelude to what the ethnic composition of the territory would be, simultaneously played out in South Kordofan – in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile on the northern side of the border. Non-governmental organizations spoke of ethnic cleansing by Khartoum or even genocide. But the world, busy dealing with the threat of the eurozone's collapse, forgot their warnings.
The hostility between north and south is also reflected in their economic relations. South Sudan hastened to introduce its own currency, but it will need to be stabilized. It also needs to secure trade with neighboring countries, including the one on the northern side of the border. The disruption of trade between north and south caused food shortages in South Sudan even before Sudan's division and sharply increased prices.
The question of oil also remained unresolved for a long time. Its rich deposits are mainly in South Sudan, but the refineries are in the north, through which the pipelines lead to the port of Port Sudan on the Red Sea. Without negotiations with the north, South Sudan would simply not receive basic income for its budget. Building a pipeline in the opposite direction – to Kenya – will also take some time.
Oil itself, however, is not a salvation for South Sudan. Experience from other developing countries suggests that, on the contrary, it harbors a trap of corruption, poor governance and irresponsible budget planning, or the artificial incitement of bloody conflicts as well as dependence on the price of this commodity on world markets.
The war also brought other evils to South Sudan. The availability of weapons and a "more effective" way to steal cattle or conversely punish thieves. Fights and battles between South Sudanese tribes and clans have become sharper. Bloodier.
Traditions of Pastoral Tribes
The largest South Sudanese tribe is the Dinka. They live the traditional way of proud herders who pride themselves on their herds of cattle. They measure wealth not by the size of a bank account (banks in South Sudan did not exist until recently), but by the number of cattle in their herd. Even for a girl or woman a man wants to marry, he must pay an entire herd. They do not raise cattle for meat; they slaughter them only on special occasions. In so-called "cattle camps," where they gather them and, during the dry season, migrate with them in search of water, they are often guarded by the best and sharpest of the settlement against potential thieves from distant neighbors.
In the "cattle camps" they live much as they did centuries ago. The difference is probably that now they wear torn T-shirts and protect themselves against thieves' attacks with Kalashnikovs. People in settlements and camps are threatened by malnutrition – women, children, men. Their diet is very simple – cow's milk and millet. "Women have no education, they do not know what to feed their children. And even if they know, they do not have it," says pediatrician Adriana Ondrušová from Trnava University, who also knows South Sudan from the war era.
The Dinka tribe in particular lacks a relationship to the land and the ability to cultivate it. Yet South Sudan, thanks to its fertile soil, could be a "breadbasket" even for the countries of East Africa, which are increasingly plagued by long droughts that led to famine this year. Change in South Sudan, however, comes only gradually. But it is true that it is visible. In the camp near the settlement of Agangrial, about 70 kilometers from the regional center of Rumbek (which can be reached via dirt road in about three hours), plots of corn could already be seen a year ago. Mostly, however, they were cultivated only by women. Overgrown rows of corn were weeded on their knees with a curved stick that only from a distance resembled a hoe...
Women have it particularly difficult here. Not only is all the care of the household on them and they have to do practically everything. According to estimates, a woman in South Sudan is statistically far more likely to die in childbirth than to finish high school. From multiple births, women are malnourished and exhausted. There are still very few girls in schools, and they mostly attend only until their fathers marry them off. "Men are happy when they have many daughters, because when they marry them off they get cattle. They try to marry them off to the richest man possible to get many cows. That is how 60-year-old men buy 16-year-old girls. Even if they wanted to leave the man, they have nowhere to go – the family, nor society will accept her," says Professor Ondrušová from Trnava University.
Top-notch Thanks to People from Slovakia
Slovak officials should also treat South Sudan as a specific country. Not only because of the conditions in which this state was created, but also because SlovakAid and Slovak organizations are not starting from scratch without prior experience. About a hundred people from Slovakia already have experience living and working in the complicated conditions of South Sudan. Most of them are doctors who were sent there through Trnava University and St. Elizabeth University. This is also why the European Commission is interested in Slovak experience in South Sudan in the health sector when planning development aid.
Sudan was a priority country for official Slovak development assistance SlovakAid since its inception in 2004. This year, 4 projects of non-governmental organizations for South Sudan worth nearly one million euros were approved from the state budget under the SlovakAid program (in addition to health projects by Trnava University, Magna Children in Need, and the civic association SAVIO, a project by eRko/Dobrá novina for a vocational training center for future technicians was also approved). South Sudan thus "jumped" to second place (after Kenya) in the ranking of territorial priorities of Slovak development aid and allocated funds. The sectoral priorities of SlovakAid in South Sudan are health, education, and rural development.
The increased interest in South Sudan on the part of SlovakAid has several reasons. For example, that Slovaks have something to boast about there. Adriana Ondrušová speaks with undisguised pride about the fact that the hospital in the former missionary settlement of Mapuordit, which people from Slovakia helped build and equip, is now among the best in all of South Sudan. "We really are top-notch there," she emphasizes. Although – from the perspective of a Slovak resident and Slovak standards, you might not call it top-notch.
With funds from donors from Slovakia and also from SlovakAid, a vocational nursing school for training nurses was established at the hospital in Mapuordit. But that might not be all. "One day we could perhaps establish a medical faculty there as well," says Ondrušová, who experienced the very first candidates for nursing in Mapuordit.
In the early days, they tried to find those who knew at least some English and could read somewhat. At that time, something as basic as showing up to work regularly – whether you felt like it or it was raining – was not natural for the local people either. And medications from the hospital are not given to cows. "When I compare what it was like in 2004 and what it is now, there has been enormous progress. They can find a vein, administer medication, if something seems wrong they call a doctor... They want to learn. They are very diligent, and when they ask something, it is a question worth asking," compares Ondrušová.
Securing the education of future nurses and doctors is similar to the paraphrased proverb – do not give people fish, but teach them to fish. In this case, it concerns healthcare and the training of doctors and health workers, but South Sudan lacks qualified labor in virtually every sector and field. As Professor Ondrušová says, South Sudan is a country where much is missing, but at the same time it has great potential.
This is also why most people who have worked in South Sudan agree that the country first and foremost needs investment in education. Starting with basic awareness and primary schools, which are also often attended by adults because they did not have the opportunity during the war.
Responsibility
It will take some time before the maps of Africa are redrawn and the UN statistical rankings are officially updated. It is already clear, however, that South Sudan immediately upon its creation ranked among the least developed countries in the world.
The people of this country greatly desired independence. So much so that they were not deterred even by the concerns of some international observers and questions of whether they were ready for it. Many may have expected a miracle from the declaration of independence. However, after the declaration of independence, President Salva Kiir Mayardit spoke to them not of miracles but of education, especially of girls and women, the necessity of work, or even the moral obligation to cultivate the fertile land. And also of the fight against corruption, which "in other words is called theft." But also that "the goat has died, there is no one to blame."
Responsibility for the development of South Sudan no longer lies with the government in Khartoum, but with the government that currently sits in Juba. On the part of the rest of the world, it would be quite irresponsible in this situation to engage with Sudan and South Sudan only short-term, based solely on their own (economic, political or other) interests, and then leave them to solve their problems on their own.
Does South Sudan have a chance?
Area: 619,745 km² (excluding disputed territories) Capital: Juba (future: Ramciel) Declaration of independence: July 9, 2011 Population: 8.26 million (2008) Proportion of people under 30: 72% (51% under 18) Population density: 13 per km² Official language: English Religion: Christianity, Islam, traditional religions Currency: South Sudanese pound
Economy and social indicators of South Sudan: Source of state budget revenue: oil (97.8%) Main aid donors: USA, EU, Norway, Canada Poverty rate: 90% of population below poverty line Proportion of rural population: 84% Proportion of fertile land cultivated: 4% Access to water: 55% Access to sanitation: 6.4% Budget for social services: 14% of total budget Access to basic health services: 20% Infant mortality rate: 102 per 1,000 live births Under-5 mortality rate: 135 per 1,000 live births (one in seven children) Maternal mortality rate: 20.5 per 1,000 births (one of the highest in the world) Adult illiteracy: 73% (92% of women) over 15 years of age
(Source: http://www.goss.org, South Sudan Joint EU/MS Programming document 2011 – 2013)
The article was published in the bulletin Rozvojová pomoc – Autumn 2011. It is published by the Platform of Non-Governmental Development Organizations (MVRO), which is an association of legal entities – an umbrella organization of 31 (23 full members and 8 observers) Slovak non-governmental organizations primarily involved in foreign development and humanitarian aid. http://www.mvro.sk
Full issue of the journal Rozvojová pomoc – autumn 2011 in PDF