From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:SUDAN: Exiled Sudanese against teaching only in Arabic
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 16:42:56 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: SUDAN: Exiled Sudanese against teaching only in Arabic


an inter press service feature

by moyiga nduru

london, nov 13 (ips) -- exiled sudanese have called on the
khartoum government to rethink its decision to order universities
to teach all courses only in arabic. this will lead to academic
isolation from the rest of the world, they say.

the call was made by members of the association of sudanese
academics and researchers (asar) in britain, which this week held
its own celebration in london, to mark the 90th anniversary of
khartoum university.

the majority of those interviewed by ips rejected claims by
islamic fundamentalists that arabic -- the language of the quran
which is recited daily by an estimated 800 million muslims
worldwide -- has the range to cope with the teaching of new
sciences.

''i think they (the fundamentalists) are confusing technology
with science. technology yes, they can acquire it; but science, i
doubt it,'' said mohamed mahmoud, former lecturer at the khartoum
university.

science is a controversial discipline in many islamic countries.
in sudan, the move to ''reform'' the discipline began when the pro-
islamic fundamentalist military junta, led by general omar al
bashir, seized power in june 1989.

at that time, some liberal staff lost their jobs while others
were arrested and detained. one professor, farouk mohamed ibrahim,
was arrested soon after the coup and has since remained in
detention. his crime was that he taught the theory of evolution --
something which runs contrary to the doctrines of islam.

''there is a tense situation between creator and evolution in
islamic world,'' mahmoud said.

the debate about using only arabic in universities, has been
going on in sudan for a long time. but successive sudanese
governments had given way to the advice of experts that it would
not be in the country's overall interest.

all agreed that arabic lacks the scientific terminology. ''i see
this as a danger and weakness of the arabic language,'' said abdel
salaam sid ahmed of the middle eastern studies, university of
cambridge, in britain.

''unfortunately the government of al bashir ordered everybody to
teach arabic overnight, without conducting research or seeking
independent opinion over the issue,'' added ahmed al bushra, a
former sudanese diplomat.(more/ips)

sudan: exiled sudanese against teaching only in arabic(2-e)

sudan: exiled (2)

the policy is now being vigorously resisted by the country's
estimated 35 percent non-muslim african populations in the war-
torn southern part of the country.

''the southerners have always suspected the arab muslim north's
intention to impose its language and cultures on them under the
pretext of forging national unity,'' explained kunijwok ayoker,
leader of the outlawed sudan african congress (sac) party. ''i'm
afraid that instead of being a uniting factor, arabic is exactly
doing the opposite.''

the divide between the north and south is partly attributed to
colonial policy. instead of forging similar policy, the two were
administered separately by the british government until
independence in 1956. britain introduced english and christianity
in the south, while confined arabic and islam to the north.

so that with britain's withdrawal, the country's 25 million
population has almost always lived in a state of civil unrest with
25 of its 36 years of independence marked by intense fighting as
factions in the south waged a vicious war for self-determination.

the current civil war erupted in 1983, fuelled mainly by the
north's policy to impose islam and arabic across the country.

asar's coordinator khalid al mubarak suggests that ''local
african languages be encouraged at lower levels of the society to
lessen the bitterness of non-arabic speakers''.

this is unlikely to appeal to the militants in the north. nor is
it expected to appeal to their rivals, the rebel sudan peoples
liberation army (spla) in the south, which has pledged to secede.

peter nyon, former law lecturer in khartoum university who is now
a senior research fellow in humburg university, feared that the
''overreactive and unwise nationalism'' by the militants would
render younger generation ''unmarketable internationally'', as the
whole world is increasingly turning to the english language.
(end/ips/cr-np/mn/cpg/92)