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Epilogue A Missed Opportunity A referendum took place in the southern part of the Sudan from January 9 to 15, 2011, on the future status of the southern region whether to remain part of a united Sudan or secede as a separate country. The referendum was one of the consequences of the 2005 Naivasha or Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the Islamist ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/ Army (SPLM/A). The agreement called for a six-year interim period, during which the NCP and SPLM would share control of a government of national unity and work together to make unity for the southern Sudanese an attractive option. On February 7, 2011, the final result of the referendum was published with 98.83 percent voting in favor of independence despite centuries of coexistence within the same country. The magnitude of perils of fragmentation facing the entire country and the opportunity to be liberated from the clutches of the old Sudan and its inherited state were both viable. However, like all events of scale, a historic moment had made itself available for the Sudanese people to grasp and rebuild a new nation and a state. Had the Naivasha agreement been taken as the starting point for reconstructing a new Sudan where civil society could be revitalized and the state rebuilt by changing the environment of public discourse to accommodate and adapt to the inner resources, the historical resentments, and the self-definition of a new Sudan, these and other conditions could have produced a new social contract out of the collective aspiration of the Sudanese people for a good society. This could have also provided for the needed and meaningful subversion of the vicious circles of totalitarian rule and paved the way for the reconstruction of a new state built on citizenry, justice, 196 · A Civil Society Deferred de-marginalization, inclusive social and political life, and a solid foundation for the repair of the social sphere. The Sudan could have provided a new model for creating a nationality, a state, and a country. Unfortunately, things went toward secession. Was there a missed opportunity ? Yes; however, the wind of change is blowing all over the Middle East and Africa. The street’s cry for freedom is al-Sha'b yurid isqåt alNiz åm [The people need to end the regime]. The Sudanese, who are more experienced in leading successful civil disobedience movements against dictatorial rule, in 1964 and 1985, might do it for the third time and liberate themselves from all the different, inherited, and current forms of tyranny and totalitarianism of the state. Then, perhaps, there will be a new opportunity for building a new Sudan. ...

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