The Guardian (UK) - Yousif Kuwa: The lost leader of Africa's persecuted Nuba people, he tempered armed resistance with justice

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Yousif Kuwa: The lost leader of Africa's persecuted Nuba people, he tempered
armed resistance with justice

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News Article by TG posted on April 04, 2001 at 04:40:22: EST (-5 GMT)

Yousif Kuwa: The lost leader of Africa's persecuted Nuba people, he tempered
armed resistance with justice

By Julie Flint
The Guardian – (UK)
April 4, 2001

In the days before he died, at the age of 55, Yousif Kuwa wanted two things:
to see the latest biography of Nelson Mandela, and to publish an open letter
to the United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan on behalf of the Nuba
people of Sudan, whose struggle for survival Yousif led for 16 years. The
letter asked why, despite all its promises, the UN continued to abandon the
Nuba to the depredations of the fundamentalist generals who rule Sudan.

Yousif's death has robbed Africa of one of its most vis- ionary leaders. It
has robbed the Nuba, long perceived as an underclass in Arab-ruled Sudan, of
the man who gave them a new pride and confidence in their Africanness. And
it has robbed the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) of a commander who
demonstrated that armed struggle is not incompatible with respect for human
rights and civil society.

A teacher by vocation, with a longing to farm once the struggle was over,
Yousif fought all his life for a just peace - not only for the Nuba, but for
all Sudanese, regardless of race, religion or sex. For him, there was no
alternative to resistance in the Nuba mountains of central Sudan, sealed off
from the world since the National Islamic Front seized power in 1989.

But he respected those who chose to flee to government garrisons where they
were promised - but seldom given - food, clothes and medicine. He was that
rare thing in any society, especially in an impecunious society under arms:
a leader who was loved.

Yousif was born into the Miri tribe, one of more than 50 ethnic Nuba groups.
In the days before Sudan's rulers began enforcing an Arab-Islamic identity
down the barrel of a gun, his parents were happy to raise him as a Muslim,
and gave him an Arab name in preference to that traditionally given to
first-born Nuba boys, Kuku. Yousif grew up believing he was an Arab. 'If you
told me otherwise," he once said, 'I would hit you."

All this changed in second- ary school, when his headmaster stopped teaching
him, saying: 'What is the use of teaching Nuba who are going to work as
servants in houses?" 'What's a Nuba?" Yousif asked.

He discovered the answer as a political science student at Khartoum
University, immersing himself in Nuba history. At the house of a Nuba friend
one evening, he was dismayed to hear one child say to another, 'You are a
good singer. But, unfortunately, you are black." In that moment, he said, 'I
started to reject assimilation. I said, 'I will build my civilisation, and
then I will forgive anyone who humiliated me before."'

While still at university, he helped create the Komolo, the first political
organisation of Nuba youth. In 1981, he was elected to the Kordofan regional
assembly, but found himself accused of racism whenever he spoke of the Nuba.
Despairing of political change, he joined the SPLA.

For him, liberation meant respect for the rights of all. He sought
self-determination in its original sense - for the Nuba to have the right to
choose what kind of government they would have, and with whom.

Yousif's years as SPLA governor-commander in the Nuba mountains set new
standards of rebel behaviour. He refused to tolerate abuses, and brought
some indisciplined soldiers before firing squads. He built a civil ad
ministration that was unique to SPLA-controlled areas, and let the Nuba
freely choose between resistance and surrender. They voted, overwhelm-
ingly, for resistance.

Yousif was the embodiment of the traditional Nuba values of political and
religious tolerance. He fathered a renaissance of Nuba culture, and gave the
Nuba a self- confidence that was their strongest weapon when Khartoum
declared holy war against them in 1991. Encouraged by him to be
self-reliant, the Nuba fought Khartoum's blockade by creating a teachers'
training college and a nursing school, despite having almost no educated
class.

In 1993, after two years of famine in which thousands died unseen, Yousif
found his way to Europe to seek help for his people. He returned almost
empty-handed, disappointed by his first encounter with the west. 'We are
like a sinking man in the river, and they are standing on the bank shouting
encouragement," he said. 'We do not fear bullets, but we feel bitter when a
lot of people - especially children - die because of malaria."

Told he had bone cancer 15 months ago, Yousif had one wish - to see a just
peace before he died. That was not to be. With the exploitation of oil by
foreign companies, which have suddenly overcome their abhorrence for
Khartoum, peace seems further away than ever.

He is survived by his three wives - Fatima, Hanan and Imm Masaar - and 14
children.

Yousif Kuwa Mekki, Nuba resistance leader, born August 1945; died March 31
2001