A approach for building a Sudanese nation

If the political history of the independent Sudan could safely be epitomized till the year 1991 as a tale of a search for a constitution, the political life of the country had since then taken a new turn when the Frankfurt Agreement was concluded. The Frankfurt Agreement that was signed by Dr. Ali Elhag on behalf of the Government of the Sudan and Dr. Lam Akol on behalf of SPLM/A United -better known as Nassir Faction), went down in history as the first instrument ever to affirm self-determination as a right for Southern Sudanese. Though that agreement was not put into effect, it succeeded to call in, by association of ideas, a chain of political arrangements and understandings that invariably considered the concept of self-determination to be their central theme. The Khartoum Charter, the Khartoum Agreement, the Fashouda Agreement, the Chukudum Accord, the Asmara Declaration, the Djibouti Call of Homeland and notably the IGAD Declaration of Principles, had all unequivocally committed major Northern and Southern political powers to pledge self-determination to Southern Sudanese. Nowadays, it becomes abundantly clear that the political, as well as the military, struggle in the Sudan had finally settled to evolve around this newly found concept. Although "secession" appears within the options generously offered by almost all those packages, Northern parties had without exception reiterated that the ultimate goal of self-determination is to impart a voluntary nature to the unity of the country. Southern powers including the SPLM/A, preferred a noncommittal approach. Though Southern parties don't openly support the option secession, they are all keen not to see it dropped. Consequently, although the principle of self-determination is irrevocably placed on the top of the Sudanese national agenda, the meaning and proper ambit of this right is far from clear. This treatise is an attempt to explore those uncharted waters in the Sudanese politics. The author, preferring an international lawyer's approach., took pains to restrict himself to presenting a purely legal and politico-legal survey leaving it for the reader to draw his own political conclusions. However, when it is all evident that the legal and political aspects of the subject are intertwined to an extent that they can hardly de disentangled, the author opted for emphasizing consensus as the only one way left for foreign a nation, and assisting the Sudanese people to rise from the ashes.