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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 April 2000 Issue No. 477 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 April 2000 Issue No. 477
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Books Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Dealing with division
By Dina Ezzat
Egyptian and Libyan officials are planning a meeting within the coming few days to decide on a mechanism for forging a clear position by the various Sudanese opposition groups on the Cairo-Tripoli joint initiative for a national reconciliation in Sudan. This will be followed by a visit by a joint Egyptian-Libyan delegation to Khartoum later this month for further consultations with the Sudanese government. Both Cairo and Tripoli are in contact with the different factions of the Sudanese opposition to find a way to re-launch the peace initiative which has had its ups and downs depending on the changing views and attitudes of the numerous groups of the northern and southern opposition to the Khartoum government.
At a three-way meeting that took place in Cairo last week on the fringe of the Africa-Europe Summit, Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir pledged to President Hosni Mubarak and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi that his government would continue to show moderation in order to encourage the opposition factions to open a dialogue with Khartoum within the framework of an all inclusive conference under the umbrella of the joint initiative.
"We think we should all work towards going to this conference with a common national agenda that calls for a fair settlement, a democratic transformation and friendly relations with neighbouring countries," said Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi, leader of the Umma Party.
A few weeks earlier, the Umma Party froze its membership of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) that brings together the northern and southern opposition groups. Al-Mahdi also decided to send high-ranking leaders from his party back to Khartoum.
"We think that there is a mood for political [reform] in Sudan now and that it is up to all the active Sudanese political forces to work from within [Sudan]," he said.
It was at a recent NDA meeting in Asmara that Al-Mahdi decided to freeze the Umma Party's membership. At the end of the meeting, the NDA issued a communiqué that compounded the ambiguity of the position of the Sudanese opposition on the joint Egyptian-Libyan initiative - particularly as compared to the initiative of the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development [IGAD] that is sponsored by six of Sudan's southern neighbours as well as some interested Western states.
The NDA's communiqué underlined the need to reach "a common platform for negotiation" with the government.
"This means that the NDA is freezing the joint Egyptian-Libyan initiative because the NDA knows very well that the integration of the two initiatives is unworkable," commented Ahmed Abdel-Halim, Sudan's ambassador in Cairo. "In view of the fact that following this meeting the NDA went into another round of negotiations under the IGAD umbrella, it seems to me that the NDA is now tilting towards the IGAD initiative."
But Al-Mahdi argued that the Egyptian-Libyan initiative would provide a more comprehensive framework for reconciliation and that it should be activated immediately. However, he added that it should also be expanded to include some of Sudan's Horn of Africa neighbours acting under the umbrella of the IGAD initiative.
Moreover, John Garang, leader of the main southern opposition faction, has taken an ambiguous position on the Egyptian-Libyan initiative.
"When Garang is in Cairo or Tripoli he affirms commitment to their joint initiative, and when he is away he says otherwise," commented a diplomatic source. He added: "We are aware of the different shades, and even fluctuations, that mark the attitudes of the different opposition factions toward the joint initiative, but we are also aware that the most problematic of these factions is Garang's."
Meanwhile, 50 southern opposition figures are planning three days of talks in Geneva starting next Thursday. Garang is not expected to take part in, or send a representative to, these meetings.
"What we are seeing today is that the southern opposition has become sick and tired of seeing Garang monopolise the representation of the south," said Abdel-Halim. He added that the vast majority of the numerous southern factions would, unlike Garang, seek a political, and not a military, solution within the framework of maintaining the territorial unity of Sudan.
Egyptian officials say that they never thought that the road towards promoting a reconciliation in Sudan would be easy. "The Sudanese reconciliation process is as complicated as the political map of both the opposition and the government is," commented one source. "But this is not something that we can abandon. This is something that represents a strategic priority for Egypt," he added.
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