By Leer MarialbaiIt is suggested that our general lack of appreciation of the urgency of the need for unity resides in the weak sense of nationalism amongst us. Our feverish activities consolidating the post colonial states can only work to our disadvantage. Rather the centre of focus should be the implementation of African nationalism as our salvation. That is the acknowledgement of our collective membership of an entity beyond theneo-colonial state, that is the African Nation.If this thesis is accepted then, it has to be actualised and realised by a wide movement to upgrade awareness amongst the People, on the importance of African nationalism as the cornerstone of the unity movement.We also should be clear on what constitutes this African Nation. Such a definition can no longer be postponed.Internationally, it is generally accepted that there exists within the African continent two nations – the Arab Nation and the African Nation. Certainly the Arabs as a people, be they in the Middle – East or within continental Africa, distinguish themselves from the blacks in general found south of the Sahara. That was why they created their ArabLeague in the 1940’s, to bring the Arab Nation together within one stucture.This is also the perception of the peoples of the world in general about the people presently living within continental Africa. Africa is seen to be peopled by two nations, the Arabs in the north and the Africans south of the Sahara. It is therefore odd that, especially the people living south of the Sahara – the Africans, should have chosen a structure uniting Africa north and south of the Sahara, as their vehicle to defend their interests globally, that is the Organisation of African Unity (OAU)., now the African Union(AU)..Blyden taught us about the African Nation in the first half of the 19th century. It was a term used by people such as Garvey. However in the past we never had a clear definition of what this entity constituted. The importance of Sudan is that a study of it leaves no room for doubt as to what constitutes the African Nation, and what is African Nationalism. Both these definitions are important for global African society.Many Africans believed that with the ending of settler colonialism in southern Africa, which is now engaged in the struggle for economic emancipation, the frontline for the struggle of the Africans would shift to the northern border of the African Nation. This area in the past was grossly neglected by Africans in general, as the global struggle, lead by the western financed anti-apartheid movement, took shape. So Southern Africa was liberated, with independence coming to Namibia in 1990 and majority rule in South Africa in 1994.Meanwhile the Torit Mutiny of 18th August 1955 in Sudan marked the commencement of yet another phase in the civil war in Sudan. Sudan is the longest on-going war zone in Africa. War in this area was never discussed in the OAU as this war was defined as an ‘internal affair’ of the Arab League, not to be dicussed by the OAU.To put the Sudan fight in context – war in the Afro-Arab Borderlands, stretching from Mauritania on the Atlantic coast, through Mali, Niger and Tchad to Sudan on the Red Sea,has been going on since time immemorial, as the Arabs pushed their way further southwards. Cheik Anta Diop, the Senegalese nuclear physicist and Egyptologist established in western scholarship that Egypt was originally populated by black Africans, who originally populated present day Tunisia, Libya, Algeria and Morocco. The Arabs came to Sudan through the Nile Valley after conquering Egypt, and through the desert from Libya and the Maghreb.Africans were and continue to be pushed southwards. In Sudan the battleground today is Dar Fur, where an Arab militia known as the Janjaweed hailing from Libya and northern Tchad, have been armed by the Government in the capital city of Sudan, Khartoum, to push the African farmers off their lands.39% of Sudanese regard themselves as Arabs. However Sudan is a member of the Arab League and is seen as part of the Arab world. It is correct to say that Sudan is predominantly muslim, although no demographic statistics are available on the country’s religiouscomposition. Black Africans constitute the majority of the population of Sudan – a similar situation as we saw in Southern Africa under Apartheid, where rule was imposed by a minority. In the north of the country and in Dar Fur many of these Black Africans have been Arabised and Islamised. So much so that these Africans consider themselves to be Arabs and not Africans. They are Pan–Arabists and supported the Arab nationalist fight of the central Government in Khartoum against the South Sudanese African nationalist struggle.So in one country we find Arab nationalism fighting African nationalism.This is the strategic significance of Sudan in the understanding of the African Nation. The ruling elite in Khartoum serve as the advanced guard of Arab nationalism and as the defenders of the interests of the Arab League and Egypt, determined to push southwards the interests of Arabia.Succeding Governments in Khartoum have played this role. That led by Hassan Al Turabi, aggressively asserted an intention to push southwards and even capture Kampala, in Uganda, and thus insert a dagger into black Africa.It was such a Government which hosted the international terrorist Osama Ben Ladin in Sudan, as he fought against the southern Sudanese African nationalists, no doubt using weapons of mass destruction (WMD) gainst the Southerners, such as poison gasses. South Sudan was considered a front of the global jihad.It has to be said that South Sudan was jointly administered from 1898 – 1956 by Britain and Egypt. The elites who ruled Sudan after it’s independence in 1956, including the Mahdis, were all committed to advancing Arab interests southwards in Sudan at the expense of the Africans. A similar ruling group, mainly Arab in composition, pursues a similar policy in Mauritania. Throughout the Borderlands, stretching from Mauritania on the Atlantic ocean, through Mali, Niger and Tchad, to Sudan on the Red Sea, Africans are enslaved by Arabs or by Arabised Africans.The challenge, which is being realised in the face of international opinion, is to reverse the marginalsation of Africans in the Borderlands. African enslavement by Arabs long predates the European encounter and continues today. We claim reparations and restitution for this crime against humanity. Some are calling for the creation of the African National Organisation, linking Africans south of the Sahara with Africans in the Western Diaspora ( North/South America,Europe etc ) and the Eastern Diaspora.( Arabia, Gulf, North Africa etc).The problems at the Borderlands of the African Nation require a solution from the Africans themselves and need a decisive African intervention, which the African Union is unable to address, except in the form of ineffectual Peacekeepers in Dar Fur.AFRICA - TWO NATIONS, ONE DESTINY ?By Leer Marialbai2007
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