South Sudan adopts the English language - Taban Lo Liyong says Juba Arabic should be the lingua franca

GREAT news. South Sudan has chosen English as its official language. Next year, as part of the 2012 Olympics arts programme, the South Sudanese Kwoto Theatre Company is to perform Shakespeare's play Cymbeline, a tale of love, death and war, in Juba Arabic at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London on Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd May.

Quotes of the Day

"English will make us different and modern. From now on all our laws, textbooks and official documents have to be written in that language. Schools, the police, retail and the media must all operate in English." - Edward Mokole at Ministry of Higher Education, South Sudan, October 2011

"With English we can become one nation. We can iron out our tribal differences and communicate with the rest of the world." - Rehan Abdelnebi, News Director at South Sudan Radio, October 2011

Source: Report from BBC News Online - www.bbc.co.uk
By Rosie Goldsmith
Saturday, 08 October 2011; 12:01. Full copy:

South Sudan adopts the language of Shakespeare

The young nation of South Sudan has chosen English as its official language but after decades of civil war, the widespread learning of English presents a big challenge for a country brought up speaking a form of Arabic.

I knew there might be problems as soon as I arrived at Juba International airport - and was asked to fill in my own visa form, as the immigration officer could not write English.

The colourful banners and billboards hung out to celebrate South Sudan's independence back in July, and still adorning the streets now, are all in English. As are the names of the new hotels, shops and restaurants.

After decades of Arabisation and Islamisation by the Khartoum government, the predominantly Christian and African south has opted for English as its official language.

'One nation'

At the Ministry of Higher Education, Edward Mokole, told me: "English will make us different and modern. From now on all our laws, textbooks and official documents have to be written in that language. Schools, the police, retail and the media must all operate in English."

This was "a good decision for South Sudan", he added forcefully, rather playing down the fact that there are very few fluent English speakers in the country.

As a devastated country of remote villages and mainly dirt roads, with no industry, banks or landlines, with erratic electricity and connectivity, where 85% of people are illiterate and the education system is shattered, South Sudan does not just have very little English, but very little written language at all.

I visited schools without textbooks.

The head of English at Juba University had no books in his office, let alone electricity or a computer.

I saw no bookshops.

For the new rulers, who fought with the Sudan People's Liberation Army, learning English is a new struggle.

"With English," the news director of South Sudan Radio, Rehan Abdelnebi, told me haltingly, "we can become one nation. We can iron out our tribal differences and communicate with the rest of the world."

'Development tool'

But peace is still fragile.

The whole of Sudan is riddled with conflicts. About 150 different languages are spoken in the South and there are thousands of guns out there, as well as a quarter of a million former guerrillas being demobilised and disarmed.

There are soldiers everywhere in Juba.

But there are also traders from Uganda and Kenya, as well as about two million returnees from the north, refugees and thousands of Westerners seeking fortunes or bringing aid.

I met the new British Council director in his office - in the grounds of a notorious nightclub (the club had free office space, and in Juba you take what you get).

After 65 years operating in Sudan, the council appointed Tony Calderbank to oversee the spread of English in the new nation.

Wherever Tony went, I saw people approach him, desperate for courses, books, teachers and grants.

"English has become a tool for development," Tony told me, "and, even if the British in Sudan are sometimes seen as colonial overlords, the English language is respected."

Shakespeare's influence

Brigadier-General Awur Malual had asked the British Council to teach his soldiers.

The general had grown up speaking his tribal tongue Bor and Juba Arabic, a colloquial form of Arabic, but can now speak remarkably good English.

When I asked him how he had learned it, he told me: "By picking up books in the bush when I was fighting. I read some things about that man Shakespeare."

"What about Dickens or Jane Austen?" I asked. He scratched his head and said: "I don't know them."

I promised to send the general some Dickens.

During my time in Juba, several people asked me for books - a dictionary of law and biographies of Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama - black leaders who, for them, inspire hope.

Already, I have put copies of Shakespeare's Cymbeline in the post.

Next year, as part of the 2012 Olympics arts programme, the South Sudanese Kwoto Theatre Company is to perform this tale of love, death and war in Juba Arabic at the Globe theatre in London.

Thirty-six other Shakespeare plays in 36 other languages will also be staged.

As we swatted flies down by the Nile, I asked Kwoto's director, Derik Alfred why he was swimming against the tide - why not Shakespeare in English?

"We must still celebrate our own language," he told me mischievously, "but first of all we have to translate Cymbeline from English into Juba Arabic!"

- - -

News from Sudan Radio Service - www.sudanradio.org:

Writer And Academician Says Juba Arabic Should Be The Lingua Franca In S. Sudan

Friday, 07 October 2011—(Juba, S. Sudan) —Renowned South Sudanese writer and academic, Professor Taban Lo Liyong, says Juba Arabic should be the lingua franca in South Sudan, and not Khartoum Arabic.

Professor Lo Liyong says Juba Arabic is an African language that is easy to learn and is a uniting cultural factor.

[Prof Taban Lo Liyong]: “It is graphic as well as being dramatic, so it can be used for creating laughter. Then what we need to do is to infuse and inject into it with philosophical words, serious terminologies, and serious technical words, technical concepts that is what we need.”

Prof Taban Said Juba Arabic already has a dictionary which is written using the Roman alphabet. He said it the responsibility of linguists to develop Juba Arabic grammar.

He also said that South Sudanese women should adopt the Shilluk Lou sheet wrapper as the national dress for South Sudan

- - -

FURTHER READING

William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564; died 23 April 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Cymbeline the play by William Shakespeare
www.william-shakespeare.info

Cymbeline play script - text
www.william-shakespeare.info

Read more at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia online.



This was long thought to be the only portrait of William Shakespeare that had any claim to have been painted from life, until another possible life portrait, the Cobbe portrait, was revealed in 2009. The portrait is known as the 'Chandos portrait' [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobbe_portrait ] after a previous owner, James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos. It was the first portrait to be acquired by the National Portrait Gallery in 1856. The portrait is oil on canvas, feigned oval, 21 3/4 in. x 17 1/4 in. (552 mm x 438 mm), Given by Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere, 1856, on display in Room 4 at the National Portrait Gallery, London, England, United Kingdom. Read more at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia online.

Charles Dickens (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, being responsible for some of English literature's most iconic novels and characters. Read more at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia online.

Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics. Read more at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia online.

Olympic Games in London 2012
The London 2012 Festival is the finale of the four-year Cultural Olympiad, taking place from 21 June to 9 September 2012.
Complementing the sport events at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Festival will be the biggest party the UK has ever seen, with a huge range of events from leading artists from all over the world. Click here to read more.
- - -

NOTE FROM SUDAN WATCH EDITOR
Since last November, this site Sudan Watch has had a Twitter page @sudanwatch http://twitter.com/#!/sudanwatch still under construction. A few moments ago I noticed a message (see copy of tweet below) and, for the record, have retweeted it. Not sure what to reply, except to say that my Blogger Profile can be found here or in the sidebar of this page. It's a long story as to why I've not posted here since July or developed the Twitter page. Maybe more on this at a later date. This site, created in August 2004, receives many visitors from Africa. At certain times of day the majority of visitors are in Sudan. I am not aware of this site being inaccessible from Khartoum. Longstanding followers of this site know that I am a friend of Sudan and South Sudan, not a foe. If you are in Khartoum and encounter problems accessing this site, please do let me know. Thanks.

alyatsudan Alya Al-Mahdi
@sudanwatch: who are you and y is your website inaccessible from Khartoum?
26 July 2011

South Sudan faces new war over oil (David Blair in Malakal, Upper Nile State)

Southern Sudan covers an area three times the size of Britain but has less than 13 miles of tarred road and is one of the poorest places on earth Photo: PETER MARTELL/AFP

South Sudan faces new war over oil
The Daily Telegraph, August 15, 2009
By David Blair in Malakal, Upper Nile State, southern Sudan

The gunmen who raided the cluster of mud huts beside the White Nile struck with merciless efficiency.

By the time they vanished into the night, hundreds of homes had been razed, 11 people lay dead and the village's inhabitants faced starvation, having lost all their precious cattle.

"Everyone is on his own now," said Jamuth Nyading, a 42-year-old Sudanese herdsman, who gathered his two wives and 12 children and fled to the nearby town of Malakal. "You cannot cultivate, you cannot herd cattle, you cannot go fishing in the Nile without risk of being killed. We can't go back, not only because of fear, but also lack of food."

Mr Nyading's ordeal would be grimly familiar had it taken place in Darfur, the region of western Sudan blighted by civil war and awarded the dubious blessing of world attention for the last six years.

Instead, he abandoned his home in southern Sudan, an area supposedly at peace since a landmark agreement four years ago ended decades of fighting.

Struck in January 2005, this "comprehensive peace agreement" was hailed as a moment of genuine hope. A rapturous signing ceremony brought down the curtain on the longest and bloodiest civil war in African history, pitting Sudan's Arab, Muslim north against the black tribes of the south, who include Christians and followers of traditional African beliefs. The south had bitterly resented Khartoum's rule, claiming the northerners' attitudes had changed little since the days of slavery - when southerners were seen as heathens fit only for serfdom.

Entirely separate from Darfur's troubles, this ethnic and religious faultline inflicted suffering on a scale that almost defies comprehension, claiming two million lives during two spells of conflict, the first of which began a few weeks before Sudan won independence from Britain in 1956. The second round of this war between north and south, lasting from 1983 until 2005, started when an earlier peace deal collapsed.

Today, people in southern Sudan fear that history is repeating itself. The calm that has prevailed since 2005 is breaking down, while the "comprehensive peace agreement" is steadily unravelling.

This year, more people have been forced from their homes in the south - and more have died violently - than in Darfur. Some 214,000 refugees have fled their villages across the 10 southern states, while the death toll probably runs into the thousands.

Only a fortnight ago, some 185 people were shot and speared to death in the southern Jonglei state in a single morning.

The central question is why all this fighting has suddenly begun. The south has always suffered tribal skirmishing, generally over cattle and grazing. Mr Nyading is from the Shilluk tribe, while the raiders who destroyed his village in Upper Nile state were from the Dinka people, their traditional rivals.

But this time, observers claim to detect a hidden hand, stirring tribal enmity with much bigger stakes in mind. The renewed hostilities may be aimed at sabotaging a referendum set for January 2011 over independence for the south. The region's future has wider importance, for large oil reserves lie beneath its lush plains.

Those reserves are coveted by the north as a resource to sell to China, whose appetite for Sudan's oil has given Khartoum a financial and diplomatic windfall.

During the civil war, when rebels from the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) fought President Omar al-Bashir's regime, the north deliberately ignited ethnic conflict in the south, arming some tribes to fight others. Ministers in the Government of Southern Sudan, which has enjoyed autonomy since the 2005 peace agreement, believe Khartoum is back to its old tricks.

"We suspect with some evidence that our partners in the north are still training, arming and sending to southern Sudan the former militia groups who fought alongside them during the war," said General Oyay Deng Ajak, a former SPLA chief of staff who now serves as the south's regional cooperation minister.

"There is an increase in weapons and supplies coming into southern Sudan from the north. Somebody, somewhere is coordinating this operation and we very much suspect it is our brothers in Khartoum."

Both north and south know the clock is ticking. If the referendum goes ahead in January 2011, as laid down in the peace agreement, few doubt the south will choose to break away and a new country will emerge in the heart of Africa.

But the south has about 75 per cent of Sudan's 6.3 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, giving the north a vital interest in preventing it from seceding. One way would be to stir violence across the south, to the point where the situation is too unstable for the referendum to be held.

"They want to make southern Sudan ungovernable," said Gen Ajak. "They want to discredit us and tell the international community 'these people cannot govern themselves and if they become independent, they will be a failed state'."

China's interests are closely aligned with Mr Bashir's. Beijing has invested heavily in developing Sudan's reserves, which provide beween seven and ten per cent of China's imported oil. The China National Petroleum Corporation, a state energy giant, is exploiting the most productive fields, including those in the south, and Beijing has also built a 900-mile pipeline linking these reserves with Port Sudan on the Red Sea.

To guarantee these supplies, China needs Sudan to stay united. President Hu Jintao has duly sold weapons, including jet fighters, to Sudan's armed forces and given Mr Bashir consistent diplomatic support.

Either way, the referendum carries huge risks. If the poll is delayed or cancelled, Gen Ajak said that people in the south would feel cheated and another war could start. If, however, the referendum goes ahead and the south chooses independence, the north may launch a war to hold onto the oil.

Some believe the recent violence amounts to the opening shots of this new conflict. The claim of a "hidden hand" behind at least some of the killing is supported by independent evidence.

A ship recently arrived in Malakal having travelled up the Nile from Khartoum. A 30-year-old man, who saw the vessel being searched, told the Sunday Telegraph that it contained Kalashnikov assault rifles and ammunition, hidden beneath a cargo of food.

Another 20-year-old man said the national army had tried to recruit him for a monthly salary of £200. Those who sought to entice him said they had been ordered to sign up 400 southerners in Malakal alone. These recruits, once in Khartoum's pay, could be used to destabilise their homeland.

The bitter mistrust between the SPLA and their old enemies in Khartoum has already cost lives in Malakal. The town's muddy streets were pounded by heavy artillery and tanks in February when a day of fighting between the two sides left at least 60 dead. A school was bombarded, killing about a dozen children. The United Nations is now digging shelters for its staff in Malakal.

However, there is no conclusive proof of a high-level decision in Khartoum to cause turmoil in the south. The region, which covers an area three times the size of Britain, possesses less than 13 miles of tarred road and is one of the poorest places on earth.

Yet the Government of Southern Sudan chooses to spend 30 per cent of its budget on the military - independent estimates say this figure may be nearer to 60 per cent - while health, education and development get only 28 per cent.

These priorities suggest the south is arming for war, leaving foreign aid agencies to conduct development work. But the recent violence has disrupted even the aid workers' efforts. "We're looking to do longer term, more sustainable interventions," said Maya Mailer, a policy adviser for Oxfam. "But when this insecurity takes place and people are displaced as a result, we're pulled back into doing emergency programming."

In Malakal, many fear that another war is inevitable. A local chief, who asked not to be named, said his people were caught between the SPLA and Khartoum. "Every community is being divided by the two governments, so people who are on one side are encouraged to attack the other side," he said.

The chief's own village was raided in December, an incident he blames on Khartoum's allies. "The people are bribed with money and guns to attack their own people. They are our own relatives who attack us," he said.

Related Articles

• Sudan hands down Darfur death sentences

• NBA great Manute Bol returns home to help war-torn Sudan

• Khartoum under siege as Sudan fears overthrow of President Bashir

• Baghdad under 24-hour curfew as US is drawn into the violence

• Fresh Sudan war fears ease after 'win-win' border ruling

See Sudan Watch, 24 Feb. 2009: 

Gabriel Tang's militia clash with south Sudan army in Malakal 

-- "This (fighting) is because Tang arrived yesterday in Malakal. The U.N. tried to persuade him to leave but he refused," James Hoth told Reuter. -- Reuters report Tue Feb 24, 2009 JUBA, Sudan: Militia clash with south Sudan army in Malakal.