By Lul Gatkuoth Gatluak,
December 15, 2021 —This past Saturday, December 11, 2021, SPLM-IO launched the party General Secretariat Headquarter in Juba, the capital of the Republic of South Sudan. The launching came less than two weeks after the party had convened its fourth National Liberation’s Council Conference on December 2, 2021. While speaking during the launching of the party Headquarter, the country’s First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar suggested that the name “South Sudan” could be changed for the reason that the name “South Sudan is just a direction and it doesn’t reflect the true nature of the country and its people.”
Dr. Riek had touched numerous topics ranging from unification of the Unified forces, refugee repatriation, and the conduct of the national census before the country general elections in 2023, just to name only a few. People in all walks of life criticized the nation’s second most powerful man. The public singled out only the name change suggestion as the sole particular bitter issue that brought an uproar, saying that “it is not the right time to do so.” According to the country’s masses, “Dr. Riek and other leaders, instead of creating names, should focus on the current deteriorating economic situation, peace implementation and the squalid conditions of civil servants’ they are not alone in that regard. The time is not right to make that call, it should be a future initiative.
On the other hand, Dr. Riek’s suggested name “People Republic of Sudan” does not cover our entire historical origin, as he tries to communicate. It is true the name Sudan means “the land of Black” as does the name Egypt, which symbolized our skin color. However, North Sudan still carries the name “Sudan” and that could make the two countries identical.
If South Sudanese are ready to change the name, they should dive deep and come up with more historical names that should be added to the name “Sudan.”
Hence, one’s purpose of writing this article is to address some historical facts pertaining South Sudan and Sudan and suggest names, which could make more sense than just “People Republic of Sudan.” During the CPA interim period, some South Sudanese suggested South Sudan could be called “The Nile Republic or Cush Republic”, a reference to a Biblical-era kingdom in the area, but later on, South Sudanese settled with the name South Sudan to be adopted as an official name of the new Republic.
In biblical times, African descended Sudanese inhabited the present-day Sudan since ancient humans evolved. King James Version indicated that, “Ham” the son of Noah begat Cush and the rest of his brothers Mizriam, Put and Canaan; where Cush himself later had begotten his children including the mighty hunter Nimrod, whom historian’s belief Nubians or the rest of Black African Sudanese might have traced their origination. It is unclear however, which child among Cush’s children South Sudanese are originating from, other than Cush himself or Southerners are from the line of one of his brothers takes Put for example. One would retire here and only count on Cush. The term “Cush” in the Old Testament, generally applied to countries South of Israelites. It has been used interchangeably with three countries: Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan. However, Sudan specifically is the country that owned the name Cush among these three countries. In reality, the following chapters in the Bible mentioned the word Cush, Ethiopia and Egypt coordinately {Genesis 10: 6-20}, {one Chronicle 1: 1-10,} {Ezekiel 29: 10,} {Psalm 68:31} {Isaiah18: 1-7} and {Jeremiah 46: 9}. Based on all these facts, it has to be inferred that Cush included Egypt, Ethiopia and the Sudan in early days; and was anciently occupied by African indigenous groups before modern arrangements took shape. This Cushitic presence in the area known today as Sudan is by far entailed by archeological excavation of the sites on the Nile above Aswan and beyond. They confirmed human habitation near the river valley during the Paleolithic period that took place about the eighth millennium B.C. followed by the Neolithic revolution.
Consequently, in that stage, Sudanese people of a Neolithic culture had begun settling in villages near the Nile valleys, surviving only on hunting, fishing and gathering grains for food. They also were among the first people to start domesticating animals and plants as a reserve for use when food is deficient. As time went on, contact between African Sudanese and their neighbors occurred along the Nile River mostly through Egypt. Such contact has to be categorized as the trigger cause of all crises in Sudan.
If South Sudanese would want to change the name South Sudan, which one believe is not necessary, the Nile Democratic Republic of Sudan and the Cush Democratic Republic of Sudan could suit the history of our origin rather than the “People Republic of Sudan” without adding the Nile or Cush.
Like several others who denounced the name change, one would argue that there are numerous pressing issues that need our attention momentarily than the name changes. South Sudan is still struggling with the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement with the parties yet to move forward on the graduation of the unified forces and the deteriorating economic situation. Citizens are still suffering and hungry! Currently, the priority is the peace implementation as mentioned before anything else. Let’s change the situation before we think of changing the country’s name. That is an issue which could be debated in the parliament rather than one-party initiative.
I hope one’s suggested names carry more historical meanings than just “People Republic of Sudan.” What is your take regarding Dr. Riek suggesting a South Sudan name change?
The author is a concerned South Sudan national. He can be reached through email at lulgatluak09@gmail.com
