Walking on the razors edge: Religious groups and the 2011 arab spring

Abstract

We explore the role of religion in the creation and building of the new state of South Sudan by examining how the negative exploitation of religious identity difference and a relentless campaign of hate based on an intolerant religious ideology plunged Sudan into one of the longest civil wars on the African continent. It brought about the eventual separation of the mainly Arab-Muslim North and Christian-Animist South. The people of South Sudan actualized their right of self-determination on July 9, 2011. We capture the moment of celebration and long awaited independence and take the reader on a memory lane to appreciate the price they paid to come into existence. Painful experiences at the hands of successive Islamist-led governments in Khartoum, along with invasions, enslavements and colonization by external and internal actors have indelibly marked the history of this young state. State building begins with this regrettable legacy and seeks to define new state-religion relations. The processes seek to avoid consequences of ethno-religious bigotry as opposed to accommodating diversity. One of the key challenges of state building is to develop an inclusive citizenship and put in place policies that can foster multiculturalism and harmony among the country"™s ethnic and religious groups. This is an urgent need, but reality on the ground implies that it remains a long term goal. With strong ethnic divisions, high level of poverty, urgent needs for infrastructure, unresolved border disputes, and a strong dependency on oil revenues, flowing in exclusively through the North"™s pipelines, South Sudan faces a most daunting task of building a democratic state from scratch amid high hopes.