CLASS AND POWER IN SUDAN

Transcription

1 CLASS AND POWER IN SUDAN

2 Also by Tim Niblock SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE ARAB GULF (editor) STATE, SOCIETY AND ECONOMY IN SAUDI ARABIA (editor) IRAQ: THE CONTEMPORARY STATE. (editor) PROSPECTS FOR THE WORLD OIL INDUSTRY (editor with Richard Lawless)

3 Class and Power in Sudan The Dynamics of Sudanese Politics, Tim Niblock Senior Lecturer in Middle Eastern Politics University of Exeter M MACMILLAN PRESS

4 Tim Niblock 1987 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1987 Published by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Niblock, Timothy Class and power in Sudan: the dynamics of Sudanese politics, Sudan-Social conditions I. Title 962.4'03 HN787.A8 ISBN DOl / ISBN (ebook)

5 To Rida who helped me understand the bountiful and generous Sudanese people

6

7 Contents List of Tables and Figures Preface Introduction xi xiv xv 1 The Development of the Economy up to I Before II Determining the direction of economic development after III The inception of the cotton schemes 13 IV Other economic developments 19 2 Economic Developments I The re-investment of accumulated capital 22 II The government sector: administration and services 24 III The government sector: productive investment 25 IV The private sector: investment in pump schemes 31 V The private sector: investment in mechanised farming in the rainlands 36 VI The private sector: investment in real estate, commerce and petty manufacturing 40 VII The economic position in Social Forces under the Condominium 49 I Introduction 49 II Reinvestment and the economic elite 50 (a) Religious leaders 50 (b) Tribal leaders 52 (c) Merchants (traders) 54 (d) Higher civil servants and professionals 59 (e) Composition of policy-making bodies: representation of the economic elite in the Legislative Assembly and the first Parliament 60 III Social structure: the size and character of socio-economic groupings (a) Peasants vii 81 81

8 Vlll Contents (b) Nomads 84 (c) Tenant farmers 85 (d) Rural labourers 89 (e) Urban workers 90 (f) Salariat 92 (g) Merchants 94 (h) Class structure 96 Appendix: The Sufi religious orders (Turuq) 99 4 Social Movements, Regional Movements and Administrative Organisation, I Social movements and organisations 107 (a) The labour movement 107 (b) The tenants' movement 122 (c) The student movement 125 (d) The women's movement 133 (e) The military 137 II Regional movements and organisations 143 (a) The basis of inequality 143 (b) Regional movements in northern Sudan 147 (c) The regional movement in southern Sudan 149 III The administrative system Sudanese Nationalism and the Attainment of Independence 160 I Introduction 160 II Primary resistance 162 III The 1924 Uprising 163 IV The creation of quasi-political groupings around establishment figures, 1920s and 1930s 169 V The Literary Study Groups, late 1920s and 1930s 180 VI The re-emergence of a nationalist movement: the Graduates' Congress and the development of political parties, VII The rise of a radical nationalist movement, VIII The transition to independence The Dynamics of Post-Independence Politics, I Perspective 204 II : The first parliamentary period 206

9 Contents ix (a) The emergence of the National Unionist Party as a secular nationalist movement 206 (b) Changing electoral rules and the 1958 elections 211 (c) The South 212 III : the 'Abbud regime 217 (a) The assumption of power by the military 217 (b) Civilian representation 222 (c) The South 223 IV : the second parliamentary period 225 (a) The rise and fall of the transitional government, and subsequent developments 225 V The economy Politics and Economy under the Nimairi Regime, I The overall pattern 233 II The free officers' movement and the seizure of power 234 (a) Origins of the free officers' movement: the 1950s 235 (b) Development of a new free officers' movement in the 1960s and the 1969 coup 236 III Programmes for social and economic change, IV The failure to maintain the progressive alliance, V The political institutions of the regime, post VI Political dynamics affecting the roles of the political institutions 262 VII Popular participation: the Sudan Socialist Union 267 VIII The pursuit of national unity: regional autonomy in the southern Sudan 272 IX Economic policy and achievement 279 X The dynamics of the Nimairi regime's disintegration 287 Epilogue 290 Notes 293

10 x Contents Appendix 337 Glossary of Arabic Terms 358 Index 360

11 List of Tables and Figures TABLES 2.1 Government Education Statistics, Medical Statistics Numbers of Lorries and Trucks Registered, Output of Manufacturing Industry in Sudan, 1955/ World Exports of Gum Arabic Livestock Exports in Selected Years Oilseed Exports, Selected Years Social Backgrounds of the Members of the Advisory Council for Northern Sudan, Social Backgrounds of the Members of the Legislative Assembly, Social Backgrounds of the Members of the First Parliament, Numbers of Members of the First Parliament Associated with Tribal or Religious Leadership, or Who Worked as Merchants or Senior Government Officials Numbers of Tenant Farmers on Irrigated Land, Urban Workers in Sudan, 1955/ Numbers of Salaried Personnel, Classified by Type of Employment 1955/ Classification of Types of Merchants, 1955/ Cost of Living Indices for Sudanese with Monthly Incomes of Less Than Man-days Lost Through Strikes, (government sector only) Numbers of Students at Gordon Memorial College, Student Intake and Graduation at the Kitchener School of Medicine, Educational Development in Northern Sudan (Government Education): Number of Pupils Attending Schools in 1936, 1944, 1948 and Higher Education: Number of Students, xi

12 xii List of Tables and Figures 4.7 Expansion of Girls' Elementary Education (Government Sector), Composition of the Egyptian Army Units in Sudan by National Grouping, November Schedule for Reducing Size of Armed Forces, Regional Distribution of Gross Domestic Investment, 1955/ Regional Distribution of Gross Domestic Product, 1955/ List of Signatories to the Petition of Sound Elements, June Holders of Official Posts in the Graduates' Congress, 1938 to July Seats Gained in the 1953 Elections for the House of Representatives, by Province (Territorial Constituencies only) Increases in Constituencies in Northern Sudan Between the 1953 and 1958 Elections, by Province Votes Won and Seats Gained in the 1958 House of Representatives Elections, by Province (Northern Sudan only) Overall Result of the 1958 Elections Occupational/Social Backgrounds of Central Council Members, Distribution of Seats after the 1965 Elections Official Election Results, Activities Undertaken by Functioning Basic Unit Committees Public Sector Investment Pattern, A.1 Annual Government Revenue and Expenditure, A.2 Summary of Central and Local Government Revenue and Expenditure, / A.3 Functional Classification of Central and Local Government Current and Capital Expenditure, 1955/ A.4 Progress of Pump Irrigation, pre A.5 Progress of Pump Irrigation Schemes, pre , by Provinces 342

13 List of Tables and Figures xiii A.6 Classification of the Sudanese Population's Occupational Status, 1955/ A.7 The Economic Returns of the Gezira Scheme to the Sudan Government, A.8 The Economic Returns of the Gezira Scheme to the Tenants, A.9 The Economic Returns of the Gezira Scheme to the Syndicate Companies, A.lO Composition of GDP by Economic Sectors, 1955/ / A.ll Sudan's Exports, Imports and Balance of Trade, A.12 Medium- and Long-term External Public Debt and Debt Service Payments, FIGURES 1.1 General Map of Sudan, Showing pre-1978 Provinces xx 7.1 Structure of the Sudan Socialist Union, Oil Companies Holding Concessions in South-Central Region 284

14 Preface I owe an immense and abiding debt to the colleagues and students with whom I worked over my eight years at the University of Khartoum ( ). My initial inclination was to list the names of as many as I could. Alas, the list would continue for pages, and I would probably cause offence by omitting some. I must, therefore, simply extend a generalised expression of gratitude to the academic community in the University of Khartoum, from which I learned so much. The memory of the high level of intellectual integrity found among colleagues and students in the Faculty of Economic and Social Studies, and in the Institute of African and Asian Studies, remains with me. Outside of the University of Khartoum also, many individuals gave me assistance with ideas, information and advice. The warmth, hospitality and candour of the Sudanese people provided the most favourable setting within which one could hope to pursue research. My wife, to whom this book is dedicated, deserves my apologies for the obsessive single-mindedness which has been required to complete this work, as also do my three effervescent daughters, Sally, Kathleen and Rebecca. Their support is much appreciated. The typing of the manuscript was expertly undertaken by Mrs Susan Ridler, and useful secretarial assistance was provided by Mrs Fay Burgoyne. Their professional expertise and good humour never failed. Acknowledgement is due to MERIP Reports for permission to reproduce the map in Figure 1.1, and to African Affairs and The Arab Researcher for permission to reprint material by the writer originally published in those two journals, and to Professor Mohamed Orner Beshir for permission to reproduce three tables which appear in his book Educational Development in the Sudan The spelling of Sudanese place-names and tribe-names follows that given in the Index Gazetteer of the AngltrEgyptian Sudan (1931), which follows customary usage. For other Arabic names and words, however, a separate system of transliteration has been employed. My greatest hope is that this book may help to spread understanding of a country which, and a people who, truly merit understanding. Tim Niblock University of Exeter xiv

15 Introduction The politics of Sudan stand once more at a turning point. The collapse of the Nimairi regime throws into question the direction which events will take in this huge country, with its substantial economic potential and its strategic importance. The pattern of political and economic development in Sudan holds significant implications for the wider context of Africa, the Arab countries and the underdeveloped world. The largest country in Africa, Sudan has some 80 million feddans (1 feddan = acres) of cultivable land. Much of this land is composed of highly fertile soil, constituted by silt washed down from the Ethiopian highlands. The Blue and White Niles, converging in Khartoum, provide an ample supply of water for irrigation. With only some 5 per cent of the cultivable land actually under cultivation at the time of independence, Sudan seemed set to complement its strength in cotton production with equal strength in food production. Such were the hopes at independence. At the time of writing, 30 years later, Sudan is undergoing a desperate economic crisis. Far from producing a surplus for export, the agricultural sector has in recent years retreated even from the goal of self-sufficiency in basic foodstuffs. Some 4 million of the country's 20 million population face starvation. While Sudan may constitute a particularly salient case, many other underdeveloped countries have undergone a similar experience characterised by disappointed hopes and unfulfilled potential. It may be hoped that a careful analysis of how political, social and economic factors have interacted to frustrate Sudan's development aspirations should create a deeper understanding of the processes of development and underdevelopment elsewhere in Africa and the Arab world. The potential remains. The development perspective, however, does not constitute the only dimension in which Sudan merits attention. Sudanese political life has been exceptionally rich and sophisticated. Despite the attempts of governments to limit the spontaneous vitality of political life, by imposing centrally controlled structures and ideas on the population, political consciousness has remained high. A wide variety of political movements, responding to the problems which Sudan has faced over the last half-century, have held the stage - often articulating well-developed and highly coherent political ideologies. XV

16 XVI Introduction This political vitality has been based on a substantial body of well-educated people, a strong and active trade union movement (at least up to 1971), and a society which is not only culturally diverse but which has remained open to cultural influences from outside of the country's borders. Sudan has in fact had a very distinctive political tradition over the past 50 years. The parties which dominated the political stage for most of the 1950s and 1960s, and which may well now regain their earlier dominance, adhered strongly to a form of liberal democracy. The Sudanese Communist Party, at times possibly the strongest communist party on the African continent and one of the two strongest in the Arab world, has mostly been content (and even eager) to work within a liberal democratic setting. A continuing interaction has occurred between Islamic conceptions (some stemming from Sudan's indigenous Sufi tradition) and modern forms of political organisation and action. While the Muslim Brother movement has taken the lead in the latter sphere, it has not been alone. At a time when political life in so many other Arab countries lacks any spontaneous vitality, the re-emergence of articulate and active political movements in Sudan - giving expression to an established political tradition - may have a beneficial effect on the politics of the region as a whole. This book seeks to explain the dynamics of Sudanese nationalism and of events in Sudan since independence (1956) in terms of the economic and social structures built up under the Condominium ( ). The emphasis given to the pre-1956 economic and social structures, and the detail with which they are described, may seem excessive. Such emphasis and detail, however, are crucial: without them, the political dynamics of post-independence Sudan cannot be understood. Some will argue, no doubt, that the concept of 'class', formulated with a view to explaining the workings of Western industrialised societies, is ill-suited to the analysis of African or Arab societies. It is clear, however, that economic differentiation does occur in Sudan (as elsewhere in the region) and that this differentiation has political effects. Class structure is defined here as that economic differentiation which places differences in earnings and wealth within the context of the sources of income in the structure of economic production and organisation. The existence of class-consciousness is not necessarily implied: the political actions of individuals may reflect their economic interests whether or not they feel a group-consciousness with those who share these interests. The extent to which class-

17 Introduction xvii consciousness exists is revealed in the manner in which social movements, political parties and political institutions function. The relatively simple class divisions of the developed capitalist world, in any case, are not likely to occur in countries whose economies incorporate a variety of different modes of production. The class structure will inevitably be more complex. With respect to Sudan's rural population alone, for example, great differences exist in the manner in which economic life proceeds and in the way in which it is organised. One important distinction is between those whose livelihood depends on settled agriculture and those whose livelihood depends on nomadism. 1 Along the Nile valley in the northern two-thirds of the country, in the Nuba mountains and in some parts of central Kordofan, in the hilly areas of Darfur, round the ironstone plateau and in the hill masses of the South, and in parts of the central clay plains, the predominant means of livelihood is settled farming. In other areas nomadism is the principal means of livelihood- as among the cattle-owning Nilotic tribes of the southern clay plains and the Baggara tribes stretching over southern Darfur and southern Kordofan, and among the camel-owning tribes such as the Kababish of northern Kordofan, the Rufa'a al-hoi of the southern Gezira area, the Shukriya of the Butana to the east of the Blue Nile, the Beja tribes inhabiting the Red Sea hills and the Ababda to the east of the Nile close to the Egyptian border. Overlaying both the settled and the nomadic ways of making a livelihood is the distinction between those communities which produce almost exclusively for their own subsistence, and those which to varying degrees have become involved in the market economy. The market economy has generally been most advanced along the Nile valley in the northern part of the country. Especially with regard to settled farming, a further significant distinction relates to the techniques used in agricultural production. Government statistics on, and policies towards, the Sudanese economy distinguish between the 'modern' sector and the 'traditional' sector. Under the former heading is included not only the urban economy but also that part of agriculture which makes use of modern aids to production, such as tractors, water-pumps and large-scale gravity irrigation. 2 Even in the traditional sector, however, there can be widespread differences in the extent to which relatively more modern agricultural techniques- such as the use of oxen for drawing agricultural implements - are employed. Another distinction, or set of distinctions, lies in the organisation

18 xviii Introduction of production in settled regions. This may be considered with relation to the ownership of land. In some cases the land is regarded as communally owned 3 and, in areas with plenty of land available and only primitive implements being employed, every individual within the community is deemed to have a right to cultivate - up to the limit of his or his family's physical ability. As every individual has the opportunity to cultivate, no hired labour exists. Where good land is scarce, especially when relatively modernised agricultural techniques are employed, those who have been able to obtain the right to use good land may be in a position to hire the services of those who do not have good land to cultivate. In other cases private ownership of land exists. Not all such cases are legally recognised, but in so far as the land may be bought, sold and inherited, it enjoys the principal characteristics of private ownership. This land may be in the form of small peasant holdings, of large or small farms run by the landowner, or of schemes where the landowner divides the land into tenancies. The latter tenant schemes are themselves of many different types. On some, the tenants pay a fixed rent. On others, the produce of the land is divided between the tenants and the landowners. On yet others, the relationship between tenants and landowners has been almost feudal in nature. Where the landowner is a prominent religious or tribal leader, tenants may donate all the land's produce to the landowner in return for patronage, protection and such subsistence as the landowner sees fit to provide. Elsewhere, on land for which the government has assumed responsibility, the government may run farm or tenant schemes itself, or else may let the land to private operators for the same purposes. Obviously all of these differences which affect the form and nature of production in the rural areas of Sudan mean that the resulting socio-economic structure is bound to be extremely complex. There are many diverse groups, with particular interests and particular outlooks involved in production. The discussion so far, moreover, has been limited to the rural sector. If the industrial, commercial and services sectors are taken into account, within each of which there are widely differing levels of operation, the complexity becomes yet greater. The central theme in this book is that the socio-political structure left behind by the Condominium state was such that the problems of social and regional inequality which had grown up prior to 1956 continued, and indeed were intensified, after The independent

19 Introduction XIX state initially enjoyed little autonomy of those class groupings which benefited from the inequalities. After 1969 the Sudanese state was rather less dependent on these class groupings, but its greater autonomy was subsequently lost in a different direction. A directly dependent relationship between the state and international capital developed.

20 ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT LIBYA CHAD i NORTHERN I I I I I I I I I I ZAIRE Regional boundary --- Paved roads --- Secondary roads, Unsurfaced _..._Railways ~Rivers * Airports 500km Figure 1.1 General Map of Sudan, Showing pre-1978 Provinces