Its about a week now since Africa’s newest state, South Sudan came in from the cold.With all what the country had gone through in its pre-independence years, any analyst who thought it would have been plain sailing ought to have his head examined for the shortfalls.
The hard bargaining time is now as even South Sudanese themselves are not hiding the fact that the government in the North wants to drive them into the sea.
So what it all adds up to is the government of President Omar el-Bashir wants nothing more or less than to see the South buttom out.
The shadow boxing came in the open over the wrangling of the South’s oil export using pipelines that run through the North.
It was all along a sure bet that the North would tolerate it up to a point and then draw the curtain to force the South to search for other ways.
The first trick of the North is to impose unworkable restrictions that would rattle the South. Next is to increase the taxes. So much so that the South keeps paying higher and higher taxes without any evidence as to whether it is churning out a profitable deal.
By all standards it has become an unfortunate affair as the expectation was that the North would have cooperated with the government of President Salva Kiir to make the region less security charged.
Both states were not even bedfellows. The North eyeing the mineral gains of the South like a hawk waiting for the grabs. The South aware of the hatred, keeps constantly reminding that it is constructing its own pipeline bypassing the north.
“El-Bashir’s hopes were that one day after independence (in July, 2011) the South would have had a great fall like Humpty Dumpty, never to rise again.
E-Bashir’s action mirrors the hypocrisy of most african leaders who would give the freedom of the city and then change the locks.
South Sudanese independence has had a knock-off effect mainly on the day-to-day life of the North, reducing it practically to a near pauper state.
Credible reports from Khartoum in the North speak of rampant water and electircity cuts and high rise prices of consumer goods. Many Sudanese now talk openly of another round of arab spring starting from Sudan.
The country is strangled by a 38 billion dollar debt with military spending making up to about 70 percent of the budget.
The independence of the South has plugged holes into the overall economy of the North. The North has fed on the South like a gluttonous kid. All structures in the North are taking in the strain. This further complicated by reports that the Northern government is on the slide because the military gurus in the cabinet are becoming restless.
Free trips to Europe, incentives to shop until you drop and new four-wheelers are about to be axed.
In the past, military men who complained about their oversized uniforms get replacement in less than 24 hours. Now, count yourself lucky if this is done withing three months.
The vogue in the North is to heap all these sins on the South … the bad boy of the region which opted for independence making the North appearing to eat from the beggar’s bowl.
This is why the see-saw game is on.
The South is waking up after the inter-tribal bloody fighting which claimed thousands of lives. It’s like crossing a busy street without looking both sides with the inherent risk of being run over. Perhaps it’s adjacent to the incident of the driver who did not stop at a zebra crossing in the avenue pour la paix in Bangui, in the Central African Republic.
Appearing in court for knocking down a pedestrian at a zebra-crossing, he told the startled magistrate, ”honestly, I saw no zebra crossing the road.”
But back to a Sudanese proverb: it takes two to lie…..one to lie…..and the other to listen.
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