Evening star., 1956-12-27

lAA0OAOAAs
2. The solution Of the dilemma
which faces every Arab nation: !:
the divided loyalty between
Islam and the state.
3. The development of a sound
economy: limited industrializa-
Lost Of Series
tion, redistribution of Nile wa
ters, diverSification of cash crops,
and the currency question.
4. Education.
First Is Most Urgent
The first of these is perhaps
the most urgent problem faced
by the Sudan.
The Sudan's three most
southern provinces - Bahr Ell
Ghazal, Equatoria, and Upper
Nile-are inhabited by people
of Negroid stock, socially primi-
tive, by religion either pagan or
Christian.
These 4 million people are
perhaps more different from
their Arabic-speaking, Islamic
fellow countrymen of the north
than a Finn is from a Spaniard.
For generations before the
Anglo-Egyptian occupation Of
the Sudan, Arab slavers raided
the southern provinces to fill
their caravans bound for the
courts Of Arabia.
The SudaneSe government be-
lieves that this national antago-
nism by British colonial policy
which made contact between
the North and South infrequent.
Missionaries Blamed
The government also claims
that Catholic and Protestant
missionaries have used the
Isoutherners' hatred of the north
and Islam to promote Christi
lanity in the south. Missionaries
Iof both persuasionS deny this.
At any rate, the government
is taking steps which will in the
long run substitute state schools
for mission schools. What will
he the ultimate fate of the
south's 100000 Catholics and
$4,000 Protestants is anybody's
guess. But the government is
determined that the unity Of the
state shall be the first consid-
Ieration.
The problem burst wide open
lin August of last year when
southern troops in EQuatoria,
Bahr AL Ghaze, and Upper Nile
provinces revolted and murdered
their northern officers.
For a two-week period. the
rebels controlled the South.
Northern traders and business
men were butchered but Eu-
ropeans, Indians, and other Afri-
cans were not harmed. The rebel
radio at Torit, a southern
stronghold. sent frantic mes
sages to Nairobi asking for Brit
Iish intervention and annexation
to Kenya rather than facing
union with the orth.
During this period, an unsup-
ported and unmounted camel
corps Of about 200 men was the
only loyal force in an area the
size of France and Italy.
Rebels Surrendered
In the end, the rebels either
surrendered or fled into Kenya.
But the scars have not healed,
Southern leaders in the Sudan
ese Parliament still are pressing
for more local autonomy. The
odds are that they won't get it.
Over the long pull, better north
south communication Git takes
three times as long to get from
Khartoum to Juba by river
steamer as it does from New
York to Stockholm by ship
economic development, and edu-
cation may solve the problem.
The schizophrenia Of the
Sudan, like other Arab states.
can only be regarded as a block
to the nations development.
Intelligent Sudanese will ad-
NIT in one breath that Egypt is
their greatest economic threat.
competing as she does. in the
long-staple cotton market and
grabbing the lions share of the
Nile waters, as well as possible
political threat. In the next
breath the same Sudanese will
talk grandilouuently Of Canal
Abdel Nasser. and Islamic power
stretching. from Gibraltar to
Karachi, and the need" for a
holy war to push Israel into the
sea.
The situation Is caused by a
reaction to the westernization
Of the Arab world in the late
18th and early goth centuries.
During that period Islamic cul-
ture was shaken to its founda-
tions by the influx Of Western
Thought and technology. Every
thing Western--and hence, mod
ern--was accepted.
Selection Needed
The natural reaction has set
in along with the resurgence Of
Al%hE M RR