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| Title: | Ecological stress, political coercion and the limits of State intervention: Sudan |
| Author: | Salih, M.A. Mohamed |
| Book title: | Ecology and politics: environmental stress and security in Africa |
| Year: | 1989 |
| Pages: | 101-115 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Sudan |
| Subjects: | resettlement agricultural policy environment agricultural mechanization |
| Abstract: | This paper outlines the intervention of the State of Sudan in the ecology of the country, from the advent of Turco-Egyptian colonial rule (1821-1885) to the present, and the consequences of this process. Ecological degradation is attributed to the establishment of large-scale mechanized schemes, population and livestock concentration around water sources, and the evolution of large urban centres with high demand for firewood and charcoal. This is coupled with the use of coercive measures to displace traditional farmers and pastoralists from their lands in favour of large-scale agricultural mechanization. This process has created several conflicts between the owners of the large-scale mechanization schemes, the cultivators and the pastoralists. The State has also used coercive measures to restrict the movement of pastoralists and farmers, notably during the 1983/1985 drought phase, and has prevented them from settling in the wetter zone. Furthermore, the State has instituted 'kasha' (unwarranted detention), which facilitates the repatriation of famine victims to their ecologically degraded home areas instead of encouraging spontaneous settlement. The State's inability to intervene on behalf of the victims of drought and famine has led to the use of coercion as the only means of legitimizing its holding of power and of justifying its faulty distributive mechanism. Notes, ref. |
