Jemma Kumba
Expert Spotlight
A Country to Call Home
Jemma Kumba is excited to go home. "I am happy to have a place I will call my country," she says. "Because in the last 21 years, I don’t think there was any place I could call my own country."
Kumba, a native of Sudan, lived in exile during the first civil war. After the 1972 peace agreement, she and her family returned only to have war break out again. According to Kumba, "the war was because of an oppressive system, an oppressive regime that did not treat its people equally."
Sudan’s 21-year conflict, the longest in Africa, was fought between the wealthy, mostly Arab, Islamic north and the poor, mostly African, Christian and animist south. The northern government wanted to impose Sharia (Islamic) law across Sudan, but the non-Muslim south opposed this. The war destroyed the infrastructure of the country and resulted in the deaths of approximately 1.5 million people.
Kumba did not tolerate the injustices she saw around her. What started as interest in the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), the leading rebel group from the south, developed into a career in politics. Initially curious about the rebel group’s objectives, she found she liked their vision for Sudan and wanted to learn more about how they planned to achieve their goals. Later, while living with the SPLM, she focused on mobilization efforts for women.
Since she was young, Kumba has been concerned about the treatment of women. As an adult, she worked as a gender adviser for Christian Aid and the Sudan Peace Fund Consortium and as a member of Sudan’s parliament and the Pan-African Parliament’s Committee for Cooperative International Relations and Conflict Resolution. She also participated in the writing of Sudan’s new constitution.
"The Bill of Rights in that constitution is wonderful," she explains. "It talks about women’s rights and equal participation. What remains a challenge is the implementation of this."
Kumba understands that ideas and documents aren’t everything. While various parties may sign peace accords, peace does not automatically result. Kumba knows this firsthand and has been working to improve the situation in Sudan, especially for women. "The women in the field have felt the brunt of this war more than anybody,” she says. "The women and children in war-affected areas are my concern."
These concerns motivated Kumba to act on behalf of women. Her leadership potential was recognized by the SPLM, where she took a more political role. In 2003 she represented the SPLM at the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Women’s Conference preparatory meeting in Eritrea, and then was a delegation member to the InterGovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) mediated peace negotiations for Sudan. In these positions, she was involved in talks and negotiations and always pressed for increased women’s involvement: "The main goal is to have gender-sensitive communities that value the participation of women and that take women as equal players in socioeconomic political development, because gender is actually a development issue." Understanding the importance of women in development, Kumba is determined to advocate for this idea.
"There's this whole issue of negative cultural practices and attitudes toward women which affects their advancement," she says. According to Kumba, some of the major issues keeping women back include: female genital mutilation, high illiteracy rates, and a lack of women’s participation in leadership-making positions.
At a conference for women that Kumba helped organize, these issues and strategies for their resolutions were discussed. "Another reason [for the conference]," Kumba adds, "was for women to form themselves into proper structures—because there was a lack of proper women’s organizations."
With Jemma Kumba in a leadership position, however, women are beginning to bridge that gap. Since the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed in 2005, and new officials elected later that year, 64 women now hold positions in government—the highest number of women MPs ever in Sudan. One of these new MPs is Kumba who says, "Now, as a Member of Parliament, together with my colleagues there, we will try to enact a policy that protects women."
In addition to policies and politics, Kumba understands the intricacies of developing and implementing a peace process. "I know the concept of peace is not defined only in terms of the absence of war. It’s a whole issue of livelihood, of security, economic justice, and respect for human rights."
With the new constitution addressing all of those issues, Kumba will have a new Sudan to call home. She adds, "I pray that the peace is sustained so that we can stay at home." (09.2006)
