What would War between Sudan and South Sudan mean?

By David Fugoyo

News about Sudan and South Sudan has occupied the media for number of days now. The contest over Heglig (Panthou) is the main reason of the current struggle between the two countries. The question of “in whose territories does Heglig (Panthou) lie?” is the cardinal question as far as the struggle or the talk about the struggle between Sudan and South Sudan is concerned.

My concern, in this article, is not to show or prove who the owners of Heglig are. My mandate here is to let the readers know why the war between Sudan and South Sudan would be very devastating. I would like to give an illustration to what I want to explain in this article.

My cousin, Kennedy, and I lived in one house and were very close friends in our childhood. We were a very strong team that vowed to fight our common enemies (whoever attacked and threatened either of us). I knew Kennedy’s points of strength and weakness; he also knew my points of strength and weakness. We fought with our neighbor’s kids and with our friends in school and in our residential area. However, whenever I disagreed with Kennedy and we decided to fight, the result was always ‘bloodshed’. None of our colleagues or friends was able to stop us from fighting. In most case, our colleagues and friends had to rush to our house to report to our parents that we were fighting. Even with the presence of both or one of our parents, Kennedy and I were willing to continue fighting.

There is no country in the world that knows Sudan as South Sudan does. South Sudan knows the weakness and strength of Sudan; it knows almost all the military strategic areas and the buildings and bridges that are very strategic in Sudan. In the same way, Sudan knows South Sudan more than any other country. Imagine if war breaks out between Sudan and South Sudan! Many strategic places in both countries would be destroyed, many lives will be lost. The war would also hamper developmental projects and plans in both countries. Given the fact that South Sudan has been viewing Sudan as the reason of its lack of development, and the reason of the death of millions of its citizens, war would add fuel to the already-existing antagonism between both countries.

The point of the immediate two paragraphs above is that the closer people are, the fiercer their conflict is. The going to war of Sudan and South Sudan would, therefore, be the worst option. The best option, if possible, for Sudan and South Sudan is to go for negotiation (dialogue). Even if the solutions to the outstanding issues between both countries seem to be impossible, negotiation is the best option.

I would conclude that war between Sudan and South Sudan would mean going back to anguish and to the days of devastation. It would mean going back to the days of lack of schools and good roads, to the days of hunger and sleeping in the cold, to the days of worries and families’ disintegration, to death. War should not be THE OPTION, if possible.