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Attitude of Southern Sudanese children towards the war in Sudan |
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MENA Dubai 2003 Abstract
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Zygmunt L. Ostrowski
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To better understand the attitude of the younger population towards the civil war, a cross-sectional study was carried out in South Sudan.
Since the independence of Sudan in 1956, the two populations: Arab Muslims in the North and Black Africans and Christians (or idolists) in the South have been in military conflict. Since 1983 the civil war devastated Southern Sudan. Two million Southerners died, and another two million were displaced or found refuge in neighboring countries like Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia or Zaire. The remaining population in Southern Sudan is suffering from hunger, disease and war. The most vulnerable group of this population is the children.
To get the opinion of Southern Sudanese children towards the war and about conditions of life, it was important to collect their points of view by personal contact. In January 2000, a few Southern Sudanese Students from The Association Européenne pour le Dévelopment de l'Enfant (ADE) Centre for children in distress in Uganda, visited two different regions of South Sudan: the camps for displaced people in Magaltorit (western Equatoria) and in Labone (eastern Equatoria). In each of these camps, students were organized in small groups to obtain the answers to the following questions: how to resolve the war in Sudan; how to live together within a peaceful Sudan; and the children's views on education.
The results of the surveys provided interesting results. While the majority of children wanted a peaceful Sudan, there were different ideas and approaches to the peace process dependent on which region the children were from. |
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