Sudan at the Crossroads: Using Education to Resolve 48 Years of Conflict

After completing her Masters degree at George Mason University, Megan Greeley, an S-CAR alumna, joined an international NGO, with a field office located in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Megan, who has always been very committed to the field of conflict resolution, engaged in other consultancy and peacebuilding matters outside of her official job. During one such consultancy, Megan met with the Director of the Peace and Development Studies at the University of Bahri in Khartoum about how to make the school more sustainable. Megan’s suggestion was that she would liaise on behalf of the Director in contacting S-CAR for technical and professional assistance. She subsequently contacted faculty members at S-CAR, in particular Dr. Daniel Rothbart, who has done substantial work in the Sudan.

From the 6th to the 14th of February 2014, Dr. Buthaina Ahmed Elnaiem, a professor at the Department of Economics, College of Social and Economic Studies, University of Bahri visited S-CAR. During her visit, Dr. Buthaina had the opportunity to meet and interact with some faculty members as well as students. She concluded her visit with the statement “this is the right place to be to learn how to help resolve the Sudanese conflict.” Some of the ideas that came out of that initial meeting involved a redesign of their curriculum, developing an online education, and finally getting a library resource center. Although nothing official has been done yet, a number of individuals kindly donated some books to the program at the University of Bahri. The feedback that came back from the University is that the book contributions have been making a great difference in increasing students' knowledge and skills about conflict analysis and resolution.

The University of Bahri is not a new school in the Sudan, although its original name has changed. The school used to be called the University of Juba, which was founded in 1975 as part of the Addis Ababa Agreement that ended the first war, fought between 1956 and 1972. Unfortunately, the second war, which was fought between 1983 and 2005, forced people to migrate. The University of Juba, the only institution in South Sudan at that time, had to do the same. The secession of South Sudan from the Sudan in 2011 meant that the school had been permanently relocated to Khartoum. The Sudanese government subsequently renamed the school to the University of Bahri.

Being Sudanese, the question that I continually ask myself is why my country, throughout the 58-years of independence, has been embroiled in protracted civil conflicts for about 48 years. The only seemingly peaceful period was a ten-year break which Johann Galtung, a peace researcher, might even refer to as the “negative peace” period. Millions of lives have been lost during this period, of which many have been women and children. Coupled with that, many people have been forced to flee their homes, with some becoming internally displaced persons or refugees in other countries. The conflict has also affected infrastructure, the economy, and the environmental as well as education and health systems. The current exploration between the S-CAR and the University of Bahri, I believe, is a step in the right direction as it offers hope for Sudan in terms of looking for avenues to stem the tide of perpetual violence that is plaguing the country. The general objectives of the proposed collaboration should provide the platform for an alternative to the use of violence to resolve conflicts. Education is vital, as it can be a gateway to development, security, prosperity, understanding, acceptance, respect and peaceful coexistence.

I cannot think of a better sustainable solution for the conflict in Sudan, or in any other African country, than education and human rights education. The majority of people need to learn and be fully aware of their rights and how to put their rights and duties into practice. Neither humanitarian intervention nor political solutions can exist if there is no respect for human rights, respect for each other, in a multi-racial, multi-culture, multi-ethnic, and multi-religious society with everyone equally enjoying peaceful co-existence and development.