People-To-People Peace Process
Wulu Evaluation

22nd to the 25th of November, 2000

AN EVALUATION OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS AND FAILURES OF THE MAJOR PEACE AGREEMENTS ESTABLISHED IN WUNLIT, WAAT AND LILIIR BY PARTICIPATING REPRESENTATIVES FROM TRADITIONAL AND COMMUNITY LEADERS

“THE PEOPLE TO PEOPLE’S PEACE PROCESS IS ABOUT OUR LIVES AND OUR FUTURE, AND THE UNITY OF ALL SUDANESE PEOPLE STRUGGLING FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE”

In the company of Church leaders, and under the facilitation of NSCC, 25 traditional and community leaders participated in an evaluation of the progress achieved through the people to people’s peace initiative and made recommendation for strengthening the process in the future. The meeting was held in Wulu, Rumbek county of Bahr el Ghazal region, between the 22nd and the 25th of November, 2000. Representatives came from Upper Nile (Anyuak, Murle & Nuer), Bahr el Ghazal (Bel & Dinka) and from the Nuba Mountains (south Kordofan). The meeting deeply regretted, that for a variety of logistical reasons, representation from Equatoria and South Blue Nile were unable to attend the evaluation.

The following sets out the core observations and recommendations made by the gathering. A more detailed list of recommendations is found in the annex attached. Finally, a comprehensive report on the participant’s deliberations will be made available before the next official people to people’s peace conference takes place.

KEY POINTS RAISED BY THE TRADITIONAL AND COMMUNITY LEADERS DURING THE EVALUATION

• a conclusive consensus that the peace covenants sealed at Wunlit, Waat and Liliir have brought a new hope to the people, and are positively transforming the quality of the lives of those who have benefited from the agreements. All participants offered practical examples of how the peace agreements are working at the local level, and how the spirit of reconciliation and good will is sustaining and spreading across the border areas.
• a number of examples were also recorded of where resolutions have yet to be implemented: especially the introduction of basic services and support for communities who wish to return to their previously abandoned home areas (see annex for more details). As a matter of priority, all participants appealed to NSCC, and all those in a position to deliver essential services, to focus on communities who have reconciled, and encourage and consolidate their achievements of peace.
• that the character of the peace process is growing into a collective, southern-wide expression for unity and peace. Participants appealed for unity among all Sudanese struggling for their liberation. They insisted that the people’s peace dialogues should never be mistaken as a chiefly Dinka-Nuer process, but one intended for and made available to all the peoples of southern Sudan (i.e. Bahr el Ghazal, Upper Nile, Western & Eastern Equatoria, Nuba Mountains and South Blue Nile).
• that when promoting peace and unity among the people, traditional leaders must assume their responsibilities with honesty and humility, and with courage to speak out truthfully. They must not deceive the people, nor be deceived by forces contrary to peace.
• that the future sustainability of the peace process will depend on the political will of the collective southern leadership (i.e. traditional, political, religious and other civil society leaders) to promote unity and the spirit of reconciliation, and oversee the institution of good governance systems throughout the regions. The participants stressed, that unless there is greater clarity and commitment to the promotion of unity, and genuine attempts to institute the rule of law, that those seeking reconciliation and peace will be undermined and the liberation struggle threatened with defeat.
• that the peace process is facing another immense threat through the continued exploitation of oil in southern Sudan. The participants especially urged those from the international community, who are genuinely interested in peace with justice in Sudan, to publicly demonstrate their intentions for peace and ensure an immediate halt to the extraction of this natural resource which is prolonging the war, and bringing increased divisions, suffering and death.
• that NSCC should urgently convene a follow up meeting, this time with representatives from all of the 3 regions of the south, the Nuba Mountains and South Blue Nile. Invitations should be offered to those already associated with the people to people’s peace process, from community and traditional leaders from all the regions, from religious institutions, from civil society organisations and groups (including a proportionate representation of women and youth leaders), from the military, and from the Diaspora of southerners – including former political leaders (who can throw light on our previous political history). The purpose of this wider meeting is to create a platform for the people to express their desire for unity, justice and peace, and for the conditions that will sustain peace, and seek a consensus around how this aspiration will be practically achieved.

The Wulu meeting endorsed the people to people peace process, and expressed optimism over its power to bring reconciliation and peace. The initiative was summed up by the participants as a process that concerns their lives and their future, and one that must reach out to all of the regions of the south, and to the Nuba Mountains and South Blue Nile. However the participants cautioned the facilitators, that if the conditions to sustain unity and peace are not urgently put in place, the future of the peace process will be in jeopardy. For this reason, the evaluation appealed for another follow up meeting and asked NSCC to ensure that wide-spread participation will be present.

Statement issued through the New Sudan Council of Churches: 28.11.00, and passed to SSFI by Sudan Infonet.