Nuba Vision

Volume 2, Issue 1, October 2002

Yusif Kuwa’s dream of self-determination

The late Cdr. Yousif Kuwa Mekki (pictured left with Suleiman Rahhal, 1998) was among the first members of Komolo ( a clandestine organisation established by Kadugli students in 1972) to join the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M). By joining the SPLA they raised the torch for the Nuba struggle for liberation and justice. Kuwa was fully committed to the movement and to its manifesto. One important legacy of Cdr. Kuwa was that in 1992 - after the SPLA split - he called for an important meeting when things were not going well for the SPLA in the Nuba Mountains. In that meeting he told the Nuba Assembly that he was responsible for what had happened as from 1987 up to 1992 but as from now it would be their decision whether to surrender or continue fighting, because the situation was so bad. I think that was a courageous decision for a leader to take and a democratic one too.

In 1992 Nuba Mountains Solidarity Abroad (then under the leadership of Suleiman Rahhal) with the support of the Dutch Novib organization arranged for Cdr. Yusif Kuwa, Governor of South Kordofan and Neuron Phillip, the Executive Director of NRRDO to come to both Holland and United Kingdom. The visit was a humanitarian mission to solicit materials and moral support for the suffering Nuba people and also to brief Nuba communities in the Diaspora and decision-makers in these two countries about the situation in the Mountains and the Nubas’ political position.

Kuwa was able to meet officials in the Foreign Office, Department for International Development (DFID) and Members of Parliament, to whom he clarified the Nuba position on the peace process. His views were published in NAFIR Newsletter (Vol.5 no1, June 1999) and in the book "The Right to be Nuba".

In his statement Kuwa strongly supported the IGAD Declaration of Principles, demanding the right of Nuba people for self-determination. They are entitled to this international human right for the following reasons: because of their long history of being treated as second-class citizens in Sudan; because of the threat of genocide that hangs over them; because of their long and better struggle for their right to justice and equality; because the right of self-determination has been recognized for south Sudan and because they were administered as a "closed district’ (along with south Sudan and southern Blue Nile) from 1922.

The Nuba’s right to self-determination must be recognized to achieve a genuine and comprehensive settlement to the long running conflict in Sudan. The Nuba are not demanding secession. They demand the right to chose in their own right and their preferred option is the unity of the Sudan, with the Nuba enjoying self-government within a decentralized system. Kuwa added during the interim period between the signing of a peace Agreement and the final exercise of self-determination, the Nuba demand to be treated equally with south Sudan and in parallel in any peace deal. The Nuba will exercise their right of self-determination separately after the people of the South Sudan have made their decision in an internationally monitored referendum. The Nuba respect the inalienable right of the people of South Sudan to self-determination. The future of South Sudan is a matter for the southern Sudanese. In the case the of the people of the south opting for separation, the Nuba will have the following options: to choose to be part of the Southern Sudan state; to choose to be part of northern Sudan state or to choose to have independent statehood.

Cdr. Yousif ‘s clarification was clear enough: that Nuba interests remain with a united Sudan. Therefore, the claim made by the Nuba in the SPLA for the Mountains to be part of an independent southern state is not what Cdr. Yousif was fighting for. It is not accepted by the majority of the Nuba people, who also do not support the idea of being part of Northern State. Today, there is no group in the Nuba Mountains who have a mandate to decide the future of the Nuba people. Any such decision should be collective, made by representatives of the entire people of the Mountains.