environmental degradation as a cause of conflict in - Steiner Graphics

esearchers and statesmen. A bigger project of data collection for experiences inall local communities will lead to documenting valuable experiences that Sudanmight offer to other African communities. At the Sudan level, the postwar era,which appears imminent, needs the undertaking of empirical research conducive tosustainable peace. Indigenous institutions and practices, promoting peace and/ormitigating conflicts, need to be identified and reinstated, so that they help in consolidating,building and preserving lasting peace.Conclusion and RecommendationsIt has been argued that in rural Sudan some valuable indigenous institutions andpractices could be delineated and shown to have been capable of promoting peaceand/or mitigating conflicts; that the prime time for such institutions to flourishwas during the colonial era of 1898-1956 (in Darfur, 1916-56). This had beenthe case because the colonial government had a vested interest in pacifying thesubjects through such institutions. Further, it was genuinely committed to humanrights at their basic level i.e. the protection of life and property and the settlementof disputes. It was also committed to the eradication of slavery.Following the attainment of political independence in 1956, however, little regardhas been given to such human rights. The overriding concern for most national,central governments has become the building of political support at allcosts. It made central governments adopt misguided policies that greatly weakenedindigenous institutions and practices. By weakening native administration in particular,many other institutions and social values have also lost their vitality andsanctity, e.g. tribal festivals, the judiyya, the Sufi tariqa, the Quranic school etc.as well as social practices, which the tribal leadership used to give impetus andsupport. In general, because of misguided central policies, war culture has replacedpeace culture in areas such as Darfur. Attempts are now underway to restore peaceto the war-torn region and this raises the challenge as to whether cross-cuttingties that held the region together during the colonial era (1916-1956) can be successfullyrestored.Some policy recommendations might be suggested in a bid to put the regionback where it was at the colonial time. It is vitally important that a milieu in whicha peace culture can flourish must be created, namely, a genuine governmental beliefin human rights for all citizens, including, of course, the rural population. It isalso vitally important that decision makers consider ways and means of protectingindividual life and property, with social attention to be paid to people in the ruralareas.As it is unlikely, for reasons of cost, for any central government to directlycontrol the local communities through modern government machinery, a form of77