Sudan & Zaire: The return of National Democratic Alliances

I.- The situation in two African countries, and at the existing and 
potential role of South Africa in the region:

Despite decades of brutal oppression and inhumanity suffered under the
combined weight of dictators, greedy capitalists and western imperialists,
the people of Sudan and Zaire are gradually reclaiming the offensive. What
we are witnessing now is much more than regionalised armed rebellion,
historically held hostage to the divide and rule tactics of successive
dictatorial regimes backed by imperialist interests.

As was historically the case in most of Africa, much of the repression was
a direct result of Cold War rivalries. Sudanese regimes (under Nimeiri,
Mahdi & Bashir) have, at different times, been seen as bulwarks against
communism and buffers against radical African nationalism. On the other
hand, Zaire's megalomaniac dictator, Mobuto, has been given a blank cheque
by western imperialists to pursue an internal and regional campaign of
terror in order to preserve the interests of capital and stamp out the
so-called scourge of communism in Central Africa.

Recent changes in global political economy though, have seen the playing
out of inter- imperialist competition to retain political influence and
economic control. In Sudan we see the USA opportunistically supporting
'democracy' now that the long-running 'fundamentalist' Islamic regime no
longer serves its interests. Likewise, in Zaire and surrounding countries
such as Rwanda, the Belgians and French desperately cling onto  reactionary
forces for fear of losing their slice of the imperialist pie.

It has been in the midst of these imperialist 'games' that the mass of
Sudanese and Zairean people have begun to forge a collective challenge to
both external intervention and internal autocracy. Recent events in both
Sudan and Zaire point to the formation of broad national democratic
alliances in an ongoing effort to reclaim both national sovereignty and a
popular, democratic government. It is these alliances that are now bringing
together mass-based opposition forces with armed formations in a concerted
struggle to forge a viable challenge to neo-colonialism and imperialist
control.

Having experienced the severe repression meted out by successive dictators
(Nimeiri, Mobuto, Bashir) and western imperialists (Britain, Belgium,
France, USA), the message coming from the people of Sudan and Zaire is
clear: we have had enough

II.- The main actors leading the new struggle, whom they are struggling
against as well as the existing and potential role of South Africa in the
region:

The geopolitical map of Central Africa is being redrawn, and the people of
the region are the new architects. The activities of national democratic
formations in both Sudan and Zaire are rapidly consigning the old order to
the 'dustbin of history.'

In Sudan, the regime of Lt. General Omar al-Bashir is losing the battle to
maintain its undemocratic rule. Since 1989 this regime has waged war
against its own people using regional division, a state of emergency,
suspension of the constitution, banning political parties and public
gatherings, shutting down the press and state-sponsored mass murder. It has
strictly imposed Islamic law - sharia - on a religiously and culturally
divergent population. The results have been devastating: a 13 year-old
civil war; war-induced mass famine and death; and the creation of millions
of refugees.

A previously divided opposition is now coming together. The Sudan People's
Liberation Army (SPLA), which has battled successive Islamic regimes since
1983 has joined forces with the broad-based National Democratic Alliance
(NDA), which includes the Sudanese Communist Party, in a combined military
and mass-based assault on Bashir's rule. The political programme of the
SPLA-NDA alliance calls for a democratic, federated and secular Sudan. The
alliance has agreed to a referendum to allow the people of the South to
choose whether to remain part of a democratic, secular Sudan or secede.

Not too far away, in Zaire, a strikingly similar process is unfolding.
Corruption, combined with the political and economic prostitution of
Mobuto's regime (which has lasted over 30 years), has forged a common
struggle for freedom among opposition forces. Long-surviving opposition
movements (such as Laurent Kabila's Party of the Popular Revolution) have
joined forces with a broad range of groups to form the Alliance of
Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire.

It is this alliance which now controls most of Eastern Zaire and is rapidly
sweeping aside the rotten remnants of Mobuto's army. The stated programme
of the alliance is to combine liberation of territory with a resumption of
popular mobilisations. The goal is to overthrow the Mobuto dictatorship,
and in doing so to create a democratic state that breaks with the
entrenched system of corruption and neo-colonialism.

The role played by South Africa (through the Organisation of African Unity
and the Southern Africa Development Co-ordinating Conference), has been
generally positive, if over cautious and lacking political content. The
government of South Africa, mandated by a progressive national democratic
alliance, must be expected to do more than merely act as a
facilitator/mediator. A clear programme of political and material support
for the democratic alliances in both Sudan and Zaire would contest the
'neutral and abstract' approach advocated by neo-liberals and acquisitive
capitalists. A similar foreign policy programme is needed in relation to
Swaziland, Western Sahara and Nigeria to name but a few African examples.

South Africa needs to consistently uphold the principle of international
solidarity with progressive forces the world over. Many of these same
progressive forces were at the forefront of supporting our anti-apartheid
struggle despite the political, material and human costs. We owe them
nothing less.