Mansour Khalid: The Strangest Methods of a Man in Research Are Those He Avoids (2-3)

Excerpt from my book, “… and Mansour Khalid.”

We saw how Mansour limited the work of the *Alleteh* (latrine cleaners) to the people of the Nuba Mountains, a marginalized group, as they were historically victims of the slave trade. Before delving into Mansour’s theory about this demeaning service, we need to refute the man’s belief that only the Nuba were afflicted by the *Alleteh* work, while other Sudanese were not. Once we prove that the *Alleteh* work was not limited to the Nuba but included others, it will naturally be easier to challenge Mansour’s theory about contempt, slavery, and professions.

Recent studies have expanded the scope of those who served in *Alleteh* work, showing it wasn’t exclusive to the Nuba. In his book “From the Depths of Slavery to the Ranks of Workers” (1996), Ahmed Al-Awad Sankanji did not limit this job to the Nuba. Mansour read this book when he was writing *South Sudan in the Arab Imagination* (2000) and praised it on page 415. He then cited it in the bibliography of his book *Sudan: The Horrors of War* (2003). Despite Mansour’s insistence on the matter of the Nuba and the *Alleteh* in two books, three years had passed since their publication, yet he did not pause to examine the matter as a researcher committed to truth-seeking would. Sankanji, in his enlightening book, did not restrict the *Alleteh* profession to the Nuba, as we mentioned. In pages 123-125, he included liberated or escaped slaves who also took on *Alleteh* work at the beginning of the colonial era. He noted that this source gradually dried up because former slaves found it repulsive and distanced themselves from it. As a result, the authorities turned to prisoners to perform the *Alleteh* tasks. However, this source also proved inadequate because prison labor was only available during the day, while *Alleteh* work was a night job due to its repulsive nature and unpleasant smells, making it better suited for night shifts. In an effort to attract workers, the authorities in Khartoum increased the daily wage to nine piastres, but it didn’t yield much result. There was a shortage of workers for this job to the point where the authorities considered abolishing the system altogether. However, they found that some Nuba migrants in Khartoum were willing to do the work. But this Nuba labor force soon faced the threat of cessation, as the government initiated its infamous “Nuba Mountains Policy,” aimed at saving the Nuba and others from the influence of Islam and Arab culture. Naturally, the government opposed Nuba migration to the northern Nile region to prevent them from falling prey to the unfavorable influences of the North. The opinion was to “gather and forcibly return” the Nuba in Khartoum to their homeland so they could be raised in their pure, original culture. The Administrative Secretary requested the northern district managers to return the Nuba to their regions. He then inquired about the numbers of Nuba and non-Nuba workers in the *Alleteh* service and their wages. He asked whether it was possible to employ non-Nuba for this task. Upon investigation, it was found that the presence of Nuba in those districts wasn’t essential for *Alleteh* work. In the Fung district, which had no Nuba, prisoners served in this role. The officials concluded that the district could rely on the Gumuz people as a reserve workforce. In reports by inspectors investigating the Nuba in *Alleteh* service, they found 12 Nuba out of 109 workers in the Berber district, seven out of 29 in another district, while there were 92 workers from the Halanga, Beni Amer, Borno, and Fur communities, and three out of eight workers in the White Nile region, including Dinka, Fur, Fertit, Hameg, and Bargo people.

Thus, the statistics from the English investigations do not align with Mansour’s claim that *Alleteh* work was exclusive to the Nuba. Rather, they indicate that some of the workers included Arabs, whom Mansour attributed to the privileged northern group. Sankanji presented a list of the ethnic and tribal origins of the *Alleteh* workers based on English inspectors’ terminology, which was as follows:

– Sudanese (Slaves) and Southern (Black) Africans = 35

– Sudanese (Slaves) and Southern (Black) Africans = 35

– The Fur and non-Arab Westerners = 28

– Arabs (Nomads) = 19

– Fulani = 8

– Danagla = 6

– Ethiopians = 1