The Black Book: Imbalance of Power and Wealth in the Sudan
Encyclopedia
The Black Book: Imbalance of Power and Wealth in the Sudan, known commonly as the Black Book (Arabic
: الكتاب الأسود al-kitab al-aswad), is a manuscript purporting to detail a pattern of disproportionate political control by the people of northern Sudan
and marginalization of the rest of the country. It was published in two parts, the first in May 2000 and the second on August 2002. While published anonymously, it was later revealed that the writers had strong ties to the Justice and Equality Movement
, a rebel group active in the conflict
that later erupted in Darfur
to the west.
The first page of the Black Book, Part I, states its thesis: "This publication unveils the level of injustice practised by successive governments, secular and theocratic, democratic or autocratic, since the independence of the country in 1956 to this date." The main argument is that the riverine Arabs near Khartoum
have centralized power around themselves, proven by a statistical
analysis. The first of the many charts details the populations of the various regions and number of Federal/National-level representatives, as a percentage of the total, since independence. It pointed out that every single president had come from the North.
The book goes on to break down these numbers of representation by regime since independence, constitutionally mandated posts, and state governorships, all illustrated through charts. After dealing with the central point about inequality in positions of high office, the Black Book goes on to detail similarly disproportionate results in the number of Attorneys General, executive staff in the Ministry of Finance and the National Council for Distribution of Resources, which allocates oil
wealth, as well to note the cultural domination of the national media by northerners. Practically every major sector of society is analyzed to show a pattern of northern control.
Academic Abdullahi El-Tom, in his critique of the book, states that the latter half is not nearly as well-argued as the heavily statistical beginning, making points that are then not substantiated and sometimes falling into polemical statements. For example, the Black Book states that the equipment that was to be used for the Western Highway Project was diverted to the Northern Highway Project, which is both widely rumored and believed, but no evidence is provided to back it up. El-Tom further makes the following observations: it has an implicit view of Sudan as Islam
ic; it emphasizes the grievances of Western Sudan (i.e. Darfur
and Kordofan) over the other marginalized regions; and it has an unforgiving stance towards all the north, rather than just the three clan
s identified as controlling the government (i.e. the Shaigiya, the Jaaliyeen and the Danagla).
Part II was originally supposed to concentrate on policy recommendations stemming from the analysis in Part I. However, the Sudanese government so strongly attacked the findings of the first part that the writers instead took the opportunity to back up the original publication. Part II thus consists of the listing of every single government official counted in the first part, with their regional and clan affiliation.
s in Khartoum
after Friday evening prayers were greeted by polite young men passing out thick photocopied stapled versions on A4 paper. Such an activity in censored
Sudan was unusual; the fact that the document being passed out was an indictment of the national power structure has been termed "revolution
ary". Scholar Gérard Prunier
notes that
The fact that the writers identified themselves only as "The Seekers of Truth and Justice", without a place of publication or copyright notice, only added to the mystery. Over three days, 1600 copies were handed out—800 in Khartoum, 500 in other parts of Sudan (except the South) and 300 abroad. Copies were reportedly left on the desks on President Omar al-Bashir
and other senior government officials while they were out for prayers.
Government newspapers launched attacks on the publication in front page articles, denouncing the authors as "tribalists". Security forces attempted to discover the authors, while it was rumored that several junior government staffers had been fired after copies were found on ministers' desks. Publishing houses were checked and journalists, academics and other known writers were questioned to determine the book's origin. However, the book was already out and being photocopied and spread. One estimate put the total number of photocopies secretly made by individuals at 50,000. An owner of a photocopying shop in Khartoum was quoted as saying, "I made no less 100 copies for our customers. We sometimes charged them more due to the risk involved in duplicating illegal documents." Given the high levels of illiteracy in Sudan, most people heard of the Black Book by word of mouth. The document, as controversial as it was, quickly became central to Sudanese political discourse. Political factions campaigning for support in the West found that political discussion revolved around the western highway project, salaries for civil servants, especially teacher
s, and the Black Book.
In an attempt to double-check the book's central conclusion of national inequity, Alex Cobham of the University of Oxford
did a parallel study in 2005, including an analysis of income generation and expenditure by region to determine if there was a pattern of subsidies between regions. He concluded,
Hassan al-Turabi
had returned from exile, and in 1989 took power in a military coup. Al-Turabi appeared to promise political Islam as a solution; that with hard work and honesty as part of the Ummah
, people could solve the political and social problems afflicting the country. Many Muslims from the disadvantaged regions of West, East and Central Sudan flocked to al-Turabi and his message. However by the mid-1990s, the Islamist project was collapsing due to entrenched corruption
and widespread anger at the waste of lives in the Second Sudanese Civil War
with the south. In 1998, al-Turabi managed to position himself as Speaker of the House under the new National Congress
. However, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, al-Turabi's former follower, defected to the side of al-Bashir and, in December 1999, al-Bashir declared a state of emergency, stripping al-Turabi of his position and power.
The book's critics, mainly government officials connected to al-Bashir, have consistently claimed that it was made at the direction of al-Turabi. Al-Turabi has denied any connection with either the book or with the JEM. In interviews, writers have stated that they, al-Turabi and the ruling government were all connected through the National Islamic Front
, but that al-Turabi had nothing to do with the writing of the Black Book.
The writers trace their roots to 1993, when a cell of NIF members, including Khalil Ibrahim
, the former Darfur Minister of Education, began meeting in secret in al-Fashir
to discuss the possibility of reforming the NIF from within. A second clandestine cell formed in 1994 in Kurdufan
, and third in Khartoum in 1997. Most of the Khartoum cell were university graduates and most were Islamists. The year that the Khartoum cell was formed, the dissidents decided that their first step should be to inform the populace of the structural problems; a 25-man committee was set up to gather information and begin writing. Julie Flint and Alex de Waal
call the Black Book "the obituary of the Islamic revolution". However, by the time of its publication, the cell members had already decided that internal reform was impossible and that armed resistance was the only course of action. In 2001, they sent twenty of their leaders to begin openly organizing and, in August 2001, Khalil Ibrahim announced the existence of the Justice and Equality Movement
, a group that would form a minority partner with the secular rebel Sudan Liberation Movement
(SLM) already active in Darfur. Exactly a year after the announcement, Part II of the Black Book was put up on the JEM website. Almost all of the authors joined the JEM or secular resistance movements. As of October 2006, the JEM continued its armed rebellion in Darfur in a conflict that had displaced
hundreds of thousands.
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
: الكتاب الأسود al-kitab al-aswad), is a manuscript purporting to detail a pattern of disproportionate political control by the people of northern Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
and marginalization of the rest of the country. It was published in two parts, the first in May 2000 and the second on August 2002. While published anonymously, it was later revealed that the writers had strong ties to the Justice and Equality Movement
Justice and Equality Movement
The Justice and Equality Movement is a rebel group involved in the Darfur conflict of Sudan, led by Khalil Ibrahim. Along with other rebel groups, such as the Sudan Liberation Movement , they are fighting against the Sudanese Government, including the government's proxy militia, the Janjaweed...
, a rebel group active in the conflict
Darfur conflict
The Darfur Conflict was a guerrilla conflict or civil war centered on the Darfur region of Sudan. It began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and Justice and Equality Movement groups in Darfur took up arms, accusing the Sudanese government of oppressing non-Arab Sudanese in...
that later erupted in Darfur
Darfur
Darfur is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into three federal states: West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Darfur...
to the west.
Contents
| Region | Population | % | Repre- sentation |
% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern | 1,026,406 | 5.4 | 58 | 79.5 |
| Eastern | 2,222,779 | 11.8 | 1 | 1.4 |
| Central | 4,908,038 | 26.5 | 2 | 2.8 |
| Southern | 4,407,450 | 23.7 | 12 | 16.4 |
| Western | 6,072,872 | 32.6 | 0 | 0 |
The first page of the Black Book, Part I, states its thesis: "This publication unveils the level of injustice practised by successive governments, secular and theocratic, democratic or autocratic, since the independence of the country in 1956 to this date." The main argument is that the riverine Arabs near Khartoum
Khartoum
Khartoum is the capital and largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran"...
have centralized power around themselves, proven by a statistical
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
analysis. The first of the many charts details the populations of the various regions and number of Federal/National-level representatives, as a percentage of the total, since independence. It pointed out that every single president had come from the North.
The book goes on to break down these numbers of representation by regime since independence, constitutionally mandated posts, and state governorships, all illustrated through charts. After dealing with the central point about inequality in positions of high office, the Black Book goes on to detail similarly disproportionate results in the number of Attorneys General, executive staff in the Ministry of Finance and the National Council for Distribution of Resources, which allocates oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
wealth, as well to note the cultural domination of the national media by northerners. Practically every major sector of society is analyzed to show a pattern of northern control.
Academic Abdullahi El-Tom, in his critique of the book, states that the latter half is not nearly as well-argued as the heavily statistical beginning, making points that are then not substantiated and sometimes falling into polemical statements. For example, the Black Book states that the equipment that was to be used for the Western Highway Project was diverted to the Northern Highway Project, which is both widely rumored and believed, but no evidence is provided to back it up. El-Tom further makes the following observations: it has an implicit view of Sudan as Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic; it emphasizes the grievances of Western Sudan (i.e. Darfur
Darfur
Darfur is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into three federal states: West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Darfur...
and Kordofan) over the other marginalized regions; and it has an unforgiving stance towards all the north, rather than just the three clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
s identified as controlling the government (i.e. the Shaigiya, the Jaaliyeen and the Danagla).
Part II was originally supposed to concentrate on policy recommendations stemming from the analysis in Part I. However, the Sudanese government so strongly attacked the findings of the first part that the writers instead took the opportunity to back up the original publication. Part II thus consists of the listing of every single government official counted in the first part, with their regional and clan affiliation.
Distribution and reaction
The Black Book had a dramatic introduction. People leaving mosqueMosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
s in Khartoum
Khartoum
Khartoum is the capital and largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran"...
after Friday evening prayers were greeted by polite young men passing out thick photocopied stapled versions on A4 paper. Such an activity in censored
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
Sudan was unusual; the fact that the document being passed out was an indictment of the national power structure has been termed "revolution
Revolution
A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...
ary". Scholar Gérard Prunier
Gérard Prunier
Gérard Prunier is a French academic and historian specializing in the Horn of Africa and East Africa.Prunier received a PhD in African History in 1981 from the University of Paris. In 1984, he joined the CNRS scientific institution in Paris as a researcher. He later also became Director of the...
notes that
it said nothing to the average Northern Sudanese that they did not know already. What created a shock were not the contents of the book but simply the fact that an unspoken taboo had been broken and that somebody […] had dared to put into print what everybody knew but did not want to talk about.
The fact that the writers identified themselves only as "The Seekers of Truth and Justice", without a place of publication or copyright notice, only added to the mystery. Over three days, 1600 copies were handed out—800 in Khartoum, 500 in other parts of Sudan (except the South) and 300 abroad. Copies were reportedly left on the desks on President Omar al-Bashir
Omar al-Bashir
Lieutenant General Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir is the current President of Sudan and the head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister...
and other senior government officials while they were out for prayers.
Government newspapers launched attacks on the publication in front page articles, denouncing the authors as "tribalists". Security forces attempted to discover the authors, while it was rumored that several junior government staffers had been fired after copies were found on ministers' desks. Publishing houses were checked and journalists, academics and other known writers were questioned to determine the book's origin. However, the book was already out and being photocopied and spread. One estimate put the total number of photocopies secretly made by individuals at 50,000. An owner of a photocopying shop in Khartoum was quoted as saying, "I made no less 100 copies for our customers. We sometimes charged them more due to the risk involved in duplicating illegal documents." Given the high levels of illiteracy in Sudan, most people heard of the Black Book by word of mouth. The document, as controversial as it was, quickly became central to Sudanese political discourse. Political factions campaigning for support in the West found that political discussion revolved around the western highway project, salaries for civil servants, especially teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
s, and the Black Book.
| Region | Total expenditure per capita |
Total revenue per capita |
Effective subsidy per capita |
Development expenditure per capita |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Central | 104.0 | 134.1 | 16.8 | 245.5 |
| Khartoum | 161.5 | 213.7 | 13.3 | 532.9 |
| Central ex. Khartoum |
60.6 | 70.9 | 23.8 | 35.5 |
| East | 73.7 | 98.4 | 1.6 | 79.5 |
| West | 44.1 | 43.9 | 43.3 | 17.0 |
| Darfur | 40.6 | 41.5 | 35.1 | 17.2 |
| Kordofan | 49.9 | 47.6 | 57.5 | 15.5 |
In an attempt to double-check the book's central conclusion of national inequity, Alex Cobham of the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
did a parallel study in 2005, including an analysis of income generation and expenditure by region to determine if there was a pattern of subsidies between regions. He concluded,
There can be no doubt that the current dictatorship has been pernicious for the human development of the regions outside of the North and Khartoum. There can be no question that the data support the claims made in the Black Book that the Sudan has been governed to benefit those regions disproportionately at the expense of all others.
Authorship and context
In the early 1980s IslamistIslamism
Islamism also , lit., "Political Islam" is set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system. Islamism is a controversial term, and definitions of it sometimes vary...
Hassan al-Turabi
Hassan al-Turabi
Dr. Hassan 'Abd Allah al-Turabi , commonly called Hassan al-Turabi , is a religious and Islamist political leader in Sudan, who may have been instrumental in institutionalizing sharia in the northern part of the...
had returned from exile, and in 1989 took power in a military coup. Al-Turabi appeared to promise political Islam as a solution; that with hard work and honesty as part of the Ummah
Ummah
Ummah is an Arabic word meaning "community" or "nation." It is commonly used to mean either the collective nation of states, or the whole Arab world...
, people could solve the political and social problems afflicting the country. Many Muslims from the disadvantaged regions of West, East and Central Sudan flocked to al-Turabi and his message. However by the mid-1990s, the Islamist project was collapsing due to entrenched corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
and widespread anger at the waste of lives in the Second Sudanese Civil War
Second Sudanese Civil War
The Second Sudanese Civil War started in 1983, although it was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil War of 1955 to 1972. Although it originated in southern Sudan, the civil war spread to the Nuba mountains and Blue Nile by the end of the 1980s....
with the south. In 1998, al-Turabi managed to position himself as Speaker of the House under the new National Congress
National Congress (Sudan)
The National Congress or National Congress Party ' is the governing official political party of Sudan. It is headed by Omar al-Bashir, who has been President of Sudan since he seized power in a military coup on 30 June 1989, and began institutionalizing Sharia law at a national level...
. However, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, al-Turabi's former follower, defected to the side of al-Bashir and, in December 1999, al-Bashir declared a state of emergency, stripping al-Turabi of his position and power.
The book's critics, mainly government officials connected to al-Bashir, have consistently claimed that it was made at the direction of al-Turabi. Al-Turabi has denied any connection with either the book or with the JEM. In interviews, writers have stated that they, al-Turabi and the ruling government were all connected through the National Islamic Front
National Islamic Front
The National Islamic Front is the Islamist political organization founded and led by Dr. Hassan al-Turabi that has influenced the Sudanese government since 1979, and dominated it since 1989...
, but that al-Turabi had nothing to do with the writing of the Black Book.
The writers trace their roots to 1993, when a cell of NIF members, including Khalil Ibrahim
Khalil Ibrahim
Dr. Khalil Ibrahim is the leader of the Zaghawa-dominated Darfurian rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement . -History:Ibrahim is from the Koba branch of the Zaghawa ethnic group, which is located mainly in Sudan, with a minority on the Chad side of the border...
, the former Darfur Minister of Education, began meeting in secret in al-Fashir
Al-Fashir
Al Fashir or Al-Fashir is the capital city of North Darfur, Sudan. It is a large town in the Darfur region of northwestern Sudan, 120 miles northeast of Nyala, Sudan....
to discuss the possibility of reforming the NIF from within. A second clandestine cell formed in 1994 in Kurdufan
Kurdufan
Kurdufan , also spelled Kordofan, is a former province of central Sudan. In 1994 it was divided into three new federal states: North Kurdufan, South Kurdufan, and West Kurdufan...
, and third in Khartoum in 1997. Most of the Khartoum cell were university graduates and most were Islamists. The year that the Khartoum cell was formed, the dissidents decided that their first step should be to inform the populace of the structural problems; a 25-man committee was set up to gather information and begin writing. Julie Flint and Alex de Waal
Alex de Waal
Alexander William Lowndes de Waal is a British writer and researcher on African issues. He was a fellow of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative at Harvard University, as well as program director at the Social Science Research Council on AIDS in New York City...
call the Black Book "the obituary of the Islamic revolution". However, by the time of its publication, the cell members had already decided that internal reform was impossible and that armed resistance was the only course of action. In 2001, they sent twenty of their leaders to begin openly organizing and, in August 2001, Khalil Ibrahim announced the existence of the Justice and Equality Movement
Justice and Equality Movement
The Justice and Equality Movement is a rebel group involved in the Darfur conflict of Sudan, led by Khalil Ibrahim. Along with other rebel groups, such as the Sudan Liberation Movement , they are fighting against the Sudanese Government, including the government's proxy militia, the Janjaweed...
, a group that would form a minority partner with the secular rebel Sudan Liberation Movement
Sudan Liberation Movement
The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army or is a Sudanese rebel group...
(SLM) already active in Darfur. Exactly a year after the announcement, Part II of the Black Book was put up on the JEM website. Almost all of the authors joined the JEM or secular resistance movements. As of October 2006, the JEM continued its armed rebellion in Darfur in a conflict that had displaced
Forced migration
Forced migration refers to the coerced movement of a person or persons away from their home or home region...
hundreds of thousands.
External links
- Parts 1 and 2 of the Black Book in English, from the Justice and Equality MovementJustice and Equality MovementThe Justice and Equality Movement is a rebel group involved in the Darfur conflict of Sudan, led by Khalil Ibrahim. Along with other rebel groups, such as the Sudan Liberation Movement , they are fighting against the Sudanese Government, including the government's proxy militia, the Janjaweed...
's website. - Was the Black Book Correct? – Opinion, Sudan Mirror, October 16, 2006