Kush Liberation Front: Nubia, the Upper North Has Risen Up in Arms

Posted on September 3, 2007
Filed Under Sudan |

First it was the South, then the East and then Darfur in the West. Now it’s Nubia in the upper North that’s picking up arms against the Khartoum government.

Their name is the Kush Liberation Front and they’re rightly pissed off thanks to 1) years of economic marginalization, and 2) the planned construction of dams which sparked the recent tragic Kajbar massacre.

My latest round-up post at Global Voices contains some information on one of the dams:

Little.Miss.Dalu puts the spotlight on the construction of a large dam in Sudan known as the Meroe Dam and the loss it will cause to archaeological treasures from the days of the ancient Nubian Civilization:

The Meroe Dam already poses a humanitarian crisis. It will displace more than 50,000 people who live along this isolated region of the Nile, growing dates and herding sheep and goats. But the project is also creating a cultural heritage disaster largely ignored by the international media, UNESCO, and private preservation groups. Thousands–perhaps tens of thousands–of ancient sites are likely to vanish underwater as early as next year without even cursory examination.

If you’re not aware of the Kajbar massacre, this post leads to some very graphic videos of the incident. The article also states the following about it:

Tensions have been high here since soldiers opened fire on an anti-government protest of 5,000 Nubians in June, killing four young men and wounding nearly two dozen. The government has arrested nearly three dozen Nubian leaders and four journalists who were trying to cover the violence.

And out pops the Kush Liberation Front.

Now a recently formed rebel group, calling itself the Kush Liberation Front, is advocating armed resistance to overthrow the central government, which it accuses of oppressing Nubians and other indigenous peoples in Sudan.

“Our efforts will not succeed unless they are backed by military action,” said Abdelwahab Adem, a Nubian former businessman and co-founder of the Kush Liberation Front. “We need to get rid of the Arabs. Our goal is to realize a new Sudan, by force if necessary.”

Adem said the new movement would rely on “guerrilla fighting,” targeting the capital, Khartoum, and other major Sudanese cities. He declined to specify what sort of tactics might be used or how many fighters the group has.

Darfur has been continuously portrayed as an “Arabs Vs Africans” conflict. Now, this looks like it’s going to be portrayed as “Arabs Vs Nubians”. If that happens, it would be a little simplistic since Arab farmers are also going to be affected by the dams. For the government in Khartoum, it’s always primarily about wealth and power. Only after that do tribal factors come into play (which they surely do).

The spark for recent unrest was a government proposal to construct two or three electricity-producing dams along the Nile in the Nubian heartland, between the villages of Kajbar, about 350 miles north of Khartoum, and Dal, about 100 miles from the Egyptian border.

This fertile Nile River strip is home to an estimated 300,000 Nubians, many of whom would be forced to relocate if rising river waters swallowed scores of villages.

… The proposals come on top of another controversial project, the 1,250-megawatt Merowe Dam, which is already under construction about 150 miles to the east. Flooding from that project will displace 70,000 Arab farmers and engulf several hundred miles of unexplored Nubian archeological sites.

Wonderful! If you’re confused about this whole Arab/African, Arab/Nubian categorization, read this. Nubians are Africans. Ethnically speaking, the government in Khartoum is dominated by Afro-Arabs, but culturally speaking it’s accurate to say, it’s dominated by Arabs. Oh and in case you didn’t know, I come from a tribe which is mixed Arab-Nubian, so watching this unfold is kind of like a biracial kid watching his divorced parents fighting. Tribalism is a disease. As for the drowning of the ancient and valuable heritage of my people, don’t even get me started. It’s too painful. Find out more about the Ancient Nubian Civilization here.

Lord have mercy! The implementation of the North-South peace agreement isn’t going smoothly. Darfur is still a mess. And now, we have this. Sigh!

Praise be to the beloved Sudanese government.

Nubia is up in arms.

Comments

9 Responses to “Kush Liberation Front: Nubia, the Upper North Has Risen Up in Arms”

  1. Andrew Brehm on September 3rd, 2007 3:37 pm

    I blame Arab nationalism, as you know.

    Nationalism and tribalism are just two different (not even very different) symptoms of the same basic ideas: that blood line makes a difference (it does not) and that some blood is better than other blood (if it is, we need to fight no wars to find out).

    And of course it’s about wealth and power. Those rulers who use the basic racist idea described above do not believe in that nonsense.

    But the masses do.

    Tribalism is a disease.

  2. Roman Kalik on September 3rd, 2007 4:34 pm

    …fuck. Man, I hate to say this, but your country looks more and more like a warehouse full of powder kegs. Said powder kegs have fuses. Some of them are lit. Given time, the whole warehouse will go sky high…

  3. Andrew Brehm on September 3rd, 2007 4:36 pm

    Roman,

    Do you remember a single country infected by Arab nationalism in which not exactly that has happened?

  4. Asma Ana on September 3rd, 2007 4:41 pm

    Way to go Nubians! The unfortunate situation facing our country, where the powers be in Khartoum have always tried to define the destiny of the country on the basis of Arabism and Islam is finally going to be tested once again by the brave Nubians.

    In the ’80s John Garang rightly identified the ills facing Sudan as being lack of development, among other things. Khartoum, he said, is the only place where there is development in the Sudan. Now this words are coming to pass with the establisment of this new armed resistance.

    Hopefully, Khartoum will smell the coffee. I see the Nubians are talking of a “New Sudan,” the same song Garang was singing. Long live the struggle of all freedom loving Sudanese!

  5. Drima on September 3rd, 2007 11:39 pm

    Andrew, we’re in agreement.

    Roman, that’s exactly what I fear. Sooner or later Khartoum might actually explode since it’s very diverse.

    Asma Ana,

    “Long live the struggle of all freedom loving Sudanese!”

    Amen!

  6. sudanesereturnee on September 4th, 2007 1:55 pm

    Indeed, long live the struggle of all Sudanese freedom-fighters.

    I agree with you Asma Ana, Garang rightfully defined the problems of Sudan, and feared that if not address properly, Sudan will disintegrate into two or more parts…

    Welcome Nubia to the fight for justice

  7. Ahmad al-Safawi on September 6th, 2007 2:55 pm

    “I blame Arab nationalism, as you know.”
    I blame oppression! A sad trend that arab nationalism only can mean destroying of all that is non-arab.

  8. Ahmad al-Safawi on September 8th, 2007 11:53 am

    … in the eyes of others, that is.

  9. Roman Kalik on September 8th, 2007 5:30 pm

    Ahmad, Arab nationalism has yet to show itself as anything else. Between pan-Arabic notions that ignored any other national aspiration, to Saddam’s outright racist and bigoted Sunni Arab ideal citizen, negative evidence is bountiful.

    Perhaps it’s time to start with plain regional-cultural national aspirations, without a vague notion of Arabism behind it. Let individual states arise, each with their own individual cultures.

    Let there be Arabs that are nationalist, but without the added baggage of regional Arabism. Let there be Arab states that are proud of their past, their heritage, instead of bowing to a stale central ideology.

    Let there be European countries, instead of the Holy Roman Empire.

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