Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Glossary
- General introduction
- Part One FROM ZARIBA TO MERKAZ: THE CREATION OF THE NODAL STATE FRONTIER, c. 1840–1920
- Part Two FROM MAKAMA TO MEJLIS: THE MAKING OF CHIEFSHIP AND THE LOCAL STATE, 1920s–1950s
- Part Three FROM MALAKIYA TO MEDINA: THE FLUCTUATING EXPANSION OF THE URBAN FRONTIER, c. 1956–2010
- Conclusion
- Interviews
- Bibliography
- Index
- Eastern African Studiues
General introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2013
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Glossary
- General introduction
- Part One FROM ZARIBA TO MERKAZ: THE CREATION OF THE NODAL STATE FRONTIER, c. 1840–1920
- Part Two FROM MAKAMA TO MEJLIS: THE MAKING OF CHIEFSHIP AND THE LOCAL STATE, 1920s–1950s
- Part Three FROM MALAKIYA TO MEDINA: THE FLUCTUATING EXPANSION OF THE URBAN FRONTIER, c. 1956–2010
- Conclusion
- Interviews
- Bibliography
- Index
- Eastern African Studiues
Summary
In May 2009, fourteen hundred chiefs or ‘traditional leaders’ were transported by the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) to a conference in the town of Bentiu. The semi-autonomous GoSS had been created by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which ended the war of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) against the Sudanese government (1983–2004). The Bentiu conference was called to mobilise the chiefs' support for internal conflict resolution, elections and the national peace process, in the lead-up to a referendum on South Sudanese secession in 2011. The GoSS President and SPLA commander-in-chief, General Salva Kiir Mayardit, opened proceedings with a public thanks and apology to the assembled chiefs for their role in the war:
It was you the paramount chiefs who ensured that the social fabric of our people was not disturbed by the war. You organized our people to support the liberation struggle, you mobilized and recruited the youth to join the ranks of the liberation struggle, you organized your people to provide food for the army. It was your bull, your goat, your chicken, your fish and your dura [sorghum] and cassava that fed us, it is you who carried the war materials on your heads and shoulders… During our liberation struggle you proved so essential to our survival as water is essential to the survival of fish.
I know as much as you do, that in spite of your major contributions to the liberation struggle, our relations were not milk and honey.
[…]
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- Information
- Dealing with Government in South SudanHistories of Chiefship, Community and State, pp. 1 - 16Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2013