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author: Daniela Balážová title: Marián Čaučík: After Years of War, Miracles Cannot Be Expected type: Contribution language: English published: 24 Nov 2011 updated: 24 Nov 2011 category: Rozvojova spolupraca source: https://www.prohuman.sk/rozvojova-pomoc/marian-caucík-po-dlhych-rokoch-vojny-nemozno-cakat-zazraky
Every development worker must be an optimist in their own way, otherwise we wouldn't do anything at all, says Marián Čaučík, director of the Dobrá novina caroling campaign. He is one of the "veterans" of the civil war between northern and southern Sudan, and experienced South Sudan in times when there was nothing there.
I first went to Sudan in 1998. It was during the civil war, which was barely registered in Slovakia. I knew it would be non-standard there, because we didn't even get visas in our passports — they told us it would be arranged somewhere locally. In Uganda, before departing for Sudan, I learned from the media that government forces had bombed one of the hospitals in South Sudan. I realized that this largest African country with a long-running civil war had been forgotten by us.
Why did you go there?
There was a famine in South Sudan at the time. We decided to provide a contribution from the Dobrá novina collection to help. Together with our long-standing Austrian partners from DKA, we contributed to food deliveries and established contact with partners in South Sudan — the Diocese of Rumbek. That cooperation has continued ever since. The Diocese of Rumbek, which also operated in South Sudan during the war, organized aid from its headquarters in exile in Nairobi. However, it also had people in the field in South Sudan, who ran simple schools and provided basic healthcare. During the war, very few non-governmental organizations operated there; the church probably had the largest presence. The government in Khartoum had expelled it, but its people did not leave — they simply moved from main roads into the bush. There they founded settlements, schools, and missions.
What did South Sudan look like then?
We were in the town of Rumbek and its surroundings, that is, in an area from which rebel forces had expelled government troops ten months earlier. What I saw there was a shock to me. There was no development whatsoever — partly because of the long-running war and also because no one had ever properly invested in the development of this part of Sudan. In other countries, colonial powers once brought development, but southern Sudan was historically less developed and left to its fate at a certain stage. And even the little that had once begun to be built under British colonial rule had been destroyed. There was nothing there. No infrastructure, no electrical equipment, food had to be imported. There was not a single meter of paved road. The connection to the world was only through a satellite phone or a shortwave radio. In the missionary settlement of Mapuordit, where we were, there was a primary school, and in two simple huts nurses were dispensing medicine. Today, instead of two huts, there is a hospital with a hundred beds where surgery can be performed. This was achieved with the help of several donors from Europe and overseas, among them our Dobrá novina and Trnava University.
Can South Sudan be compared to Kenya, for example?
Kenya is diverse. Some parts there are also very undeveloped, but at the same time there are wealthy neighborhoods in big cities — in Nairobi there are headquarters of international institutions, there is infrastructure, banks. None of this existed in South Sudan. The entire South Sudan was basically one large rural area, and since there were no paved roads, the rainy season complicated the aid situation. It was impossible to get from one place to another. Moreover, until 2005, South Sudan was in a state of war, and bombing could destroy at any time what had been built under difficult conditions. And that did happen. South Sudan was probably in a state similar to the least developed areas of Kenya or Uganda, with only minimal aid coming from outside. In addition, as I mentioned, southern Sudan did not experience development even during colonial rule. In most areas, it was as if you had traveled back in time — two or even three thousand years.
So there is a lack of an educated class.Definitely. The war lasted intermittently from the declaration of Sudan's independence in 1956 until 2005. Entire generations had no opportunity to attend school; there were no secondary schools or universities, and there was essentially no one to work on the development of the country.
With the signing of the peace agreement in 2005, South Sudan began building its own self-governance despite the shortage of educated people. What were the relations of the local administration toward non-governmental organizations?Before the end of the war, there was no government there, or rather no contact point for cooperation with us. There were leaders of the rebel army, with whom one had to be on good terms. But they realized that the education and healthcare we were bringing was good for the country. After the peace agreement was signed, there was a great disparity in how the Sudanese administration functioned in the north and in the south. The south received substantially less revenue from oil than had been expected, which could have been used for development. At the same time, the south had very few educated people to build the administration. In the first years, it was run by former soldiers. I remember the situation in 2005, when we had an agricultural project prepared and visited the local administration in Rumbek. They took us into a room with just a table and a few chairs, and as a ministry representative, a man in military uniform arrived. Until recently he had been an army officer and had become a high-ranking official of the ministry.
Former soldiers are probably not the most suitable candidates for building state institutions.That was one of the problems that made progress difficult. But after long years of war, when people were not used to anything else, you cannot immediately expect great development. Men had fought for years and suddenly had to do something else — manage an area, oversee financial flows, engage in dialogue with local people, donors. It was something new for them, and they were sometimes quite nervous about it. But I also see progress in the fact that many people who studied in Europe or America gradually returned from exile, and after the elections several of them entered the government. So there are prerequisites for things to move forward. There are women in government, educated people. Although — it may take 20–30 years before it becomes, from a European perspective, a stable and functioning government. But from my point of view, the great progress is already that the officers no longer have the final say.
But South Sudan is still at risk of getting entangled in a vicious cycle of poverty and conflict. What is the basis of your optimism?I believe that people who do development work must be optimists. Because in countries like South Sudan, but not only there, there are so many obstacles to development that if we were not optimists, we would leave and do nothing. But we are realists. We see possible problems and conflicts, but also chances for things to move forward. We want to find partners there who also see these chances and will seek paths to development. Yes, there are many problems, and potential conflicts too, but the local people must be given time to find their own way to resolve these potential conflicts. We cannot do it for them. And we also cannot expect them to do it overnight — after whole generations lived only in war and have a different set of values than we do. Different things are important to them than to us. Their greatest wealth is not money in banks, but herds of cattle over which they fought, and because the country was at war, they more easily obtained weapons as well. But this cannot be overcome from one year to the next. It needs time, and they need to be helped where possible.
Will investing in education help?
I think everyone agrees that one of the best forms of assistance is education. Perhaps the traditional way of life will naturally change through it, and perhaps the value system will shift in a different direction. And that is also one of the reasons for my optimism. If a functioning educational system is established, there will be more people who care about the future of their community, region, and country. They have achieved independence from the north, they want to build their country, and they have the opportunity to do so. Until recently, they could often — perhaps justifiably — blame Khartoum. But now they are the architects of their own destiny.
But the largest tribe, the Dinka, does not always like to take advice.Most of them are very proud, and it is true that they are not keen on letting others tell them what to do. But that too is a source of optimism for me. They are strong-willed people who go after what they want. That is why it will be important what kind of leaders they have. Whether they will be responsible and find a positive path for future development — not one tribe against another, but together for South Sudan. I think that is the great vision that unites the country.
What other priorities should development assistance focus on there?
I see three fundamental priorities — education, healthcare, and creating conditions for people to secure their livelihoods. This also concerns thousands of displaced persons who came from the north. Another area that the international community should also address is the need to maintain calm and peace, and the prevention of conflict between the north and the south. Even before the division of the country, the borders were not precisely defined. Furthermore, before the declaration of South Sudan's independence, the dispute over the border area of Abyei intensified — troops from the north occupied it — and in connection with the conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, where the Khartoum government brutally bombarded people in its own territory, there was even talk of genocide. If the world does not pay attention, there may be surprises and pessimistic scenarios may unfold. Conversely, if peace and security are ensured, good governance, leader training, and people have the conditions for their own development, then that development will soon become apparent and the country will gradually function more and more from its own resources, especially its mineral wealth.
Isn't assistance to South Sudan just a "fashionable trend"? It's a new state, there is oil... South Sudan is currently one of the main priorities within SlovakAid...For us at Dobrá novina, South Sudan is definitely not a fashionable matter. We have been operating there since 1998, and we will certainly continue to help there in the areas of education and healthcare. As for assistance from the state budget within SlovakAid, I want to believe that it will not be merely a temporary matter for the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs either, and that our representatives will continuously take an interest in the future of this country. Slovak organizations have been operating in South Sudan for several years, which was a good opportunity to boast about when South Sudan declared independence. But that is still not enough. I want to believe that SlovakAid will increase the allocation for South Sudan so that more non-governmental organizations, perhaps also companies and state organizations, can gradually operate there. But in my opinion, greater effort is needed than has been made so far. A good sign is the visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs to South Sudan, but I think we also need to do more to prevent such violence as has recently occurred in South Kordofan on the northern side of the border.
Daniela Balážová___________
The article was published in the bulletin Development Assistance - Autumn 2011. It is issued 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 that focus mainly on foreign development and humanitarian assistance.http://www.mvro.sk
Full issue of the Development Assistance - Autumn 2011 magazine in PDF