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Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 September 1999 Issue No. 445 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 September 1999 Issue No. 445
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Focus Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters New face; same old story
By Gamal NkrumahWhile throwing down the gauntlet to Western powers and sending further reconciliatory signals to its Arab and African neighbours, Sudan has made no progress in improving relations with Washington.
Last Friday, US President Bill Clinton named former Democratic Congressman Harry Johnston as his special envoy to Sudan. The appointment "underscores the importance the United States government attaches to ending the civil war in Sudan", said a White House statement released last Saturday.
Johnston was instrumental in breaking the ice between two erstwhile rival southern Sudanese leaders -- Sudan People's Liberation Army leader John Garang and the pro-government warlord Reik Machar. With Johnston's prodding the two men met in Washington in 1993 at a Sudan humanitarian relief conference organised by Johnston. His first task would be to focus world attention on Sudan's "appalling human rights record", the White House statement said.
Reaction from Khartoum was swift. Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail criticised the US decision and said that his country "was not consulted". He added that Johnston's appointment reflected America's "arrogant" attitude towards Sudan. The official Sudanese newspaper, Al-Rai Al-Aam, warned that Johnston worked closely with America's Jewish lobby and was known for his hostile stand against the Sudanese government.
This is not the first time that the Clinton administration has felt that the Sudanese political impasse was sufficiently important for it to appoint a special envoy. In 1996, Washington appointed Melissa Welff as special envoy for Sudan. However, she became too sympathetic to the Sudanese government's position and was dismissed from her post only a couple of months after being appointed. But Johnston is no Welff. He is an old Africa hand and is not likely to be swayed by Khartoum's overtures.
Official statements from Washington are chillingly uncompromising. "I look forward to working closely with [Johnston] as we continue our efforts toward a just peace settlement that ends a destructive war, halts Sudan's support for terrorism and ensures a peaceful, democratic and equitable Sudan that protects the rights of all its people," US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said soon after Johnston's appointment. "This is not an effort to inject a new personality in our still quite serious and troubled relationship with Khartoum," Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Susan Rice ominously added.
There are growing concerns in Sudan that Washington's initiative would effectively turn Khartoum into Washington's latest punching bag -- reducing it to yet another Iraq, or Kosovo for that matter. From a Sudanese standpoint, Washington is moving towards the checkmate that might be the beginning of the end of the unity and territorial integrity of Sudan -- and change once and for all the map of northeast Africa.
Washington's decision to intervene more forcibly into Sudanese domestic affairs at this particular moment augurs ill, argue some northern Sudanese politicians. "The timing of Johnston's appointment is suspicious. Washington's intervention is not aimed at installing a democratic government in Sudan, but rather is designed to split the country in two. If that happens, the democratic forces in northern Sudan will find it doubly difficult to institute a pluralist democracy in Sudan," a Cairo-based northern Sudanese politician, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Al-Ahram Weekly.
Strangely enough, at the time of Washington's surprise announcement, Musa Dirar -- a high-ranking member of the ruling Sudanese National Congress Party and parliamentarian -- was quoted in the independent Al-Sahafa as calling for the secession of southern Sudan. "The creation of a new state in southern Sudan, which would coexist peacefully with northern Sudan, is better for both northern and southern Sudanese politicians to stop the war," Dirar was reported to have said.
Al-Sadig Al-Mahdi, leader of the Umma Party, disagrees. Al-Mahdi believes that Washington's latest move could be used to advance the cause of democracy in Sudan. Al-Mahdi welcomed Johnston's appointment and said he expects the impetus for a lasting settlement to the Sudanese political crisis will be propelled forward. "I have not met him personally, but we know of his tireless advocacy of the cause of democracy and human rights in Sudan. Johnston has served as chairman of the House of Representatives Sub-committee on Africa. We hope that his appointment will assist in the democratisation process in Sudan," Al-Mahdi told the Weekly.
Other members of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the Eritrean-based umbrella organisation that groups together Sudanese opposition parties, sound equally welcoming. Many leading southern Sudanese politicians have expressed open enthusiasm for Washington's move. Privately they say that only Washington can effectively force Khartoum to open up a real dialogue about the shameful history of racism and anti-southern prejudice in the country.
Johnston's appointment coincided with unprecedented celebrations in Sudan to mark the country's first shipment of oil from the newly completed Red Sea port of Beshayer. Foreign delegations attended the ceremony, which was broadcast live on radio and television. SPLA leader, Garang, threatened to blow up the pipeline which carries the oil to Beshayer, but Sudanese officials dismissed his threats and said the pipeline was "fully secured".
