Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 5 - 11 October 2000 Issue No. 502
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

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An exploratory operation

By Gamal Nkrumah

In an unprecedented development, Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir met with Osman Al-Mirghani, leader of the opposition Democratic Unionist Party and head of the Sudanese opposition umbrella group the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the Eritrean capital Asmara last week. The meeting organised by Eritrean President Isaias Afeworki was described as "exploratory". It was the first face-to-face meeting between the two men since Al-Bashir usurped power in a military takeover in 1989.

"After discussing the question of a negotiated settlement in detail in the past few days, the NDA requested that President Afeworki fly to Khartoum with fresh demands from the NDA especially concerning the separation of religion from the state and self-determination for southern Sudan," Farouk Abu-Eissa, member of the NDA Leadership Council and adviser on legal, constitutional and human rights affairs, told Al-Ahram Weekly .

Afeworki flew to Khartoum for consultations on Sunday. "We have to agree on a general framework in which the two parties will commit themselves to negotiations in a new forum which will be the result of the coordination and merger of the IGAD peace initiative and the joint Egyptian-Libyan initiative," said Abu-Eissa.

Abu-Eissa insists that the NDA is not reneging on its principles concerning democracy and human rights. "The NDA is upholding the principles agreed upon at the landmark meeting in Asmara for the June 1995 Conference on Fundamental Issues," Abu-Eissa, who is also the head of the Cairo-based Arab Lawyers Union, told the Weekly. However, Abu-Eissa conceded that the chances for a lasting peace settlement of the Sudanese crisis appear closer than ever before. Al-Bashir and Al-Mirghani said that they will "henceforth conduct direct negotiations" aimed at resolving the Sudanese political crisis. What is more, the two sides said, "They were certain that peace and stability in Sudan can only be secured by a peaceful and comprehensive political settlement and not by military means."

Accompanying Al-Bashir was Sudanese Culture and Information Minister Ghazi Salah Al-Din who told reporters in Asmara that in conjunction with the Egyptian-Libyan initiative and the initiative of East Africa's Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD), direct negotiations between the Sudanese government and the NDA must regularly take place.

"The Asmara meeting between Al-Bashir and the NDA is tantamount to the first public recognition by the Sudanese government of the NDA. It is an admission of defeat. The NDA calls for the abrogation of the Sudanese Constitution, and the adoption of a transitional constitution -- one based on the strict separation of religion from the state. The current government will also have to be dissolved to give way to a transitional government of national unity to supervise affairs during the transitional period until free and fair democratic elections can be held and a constitutional conference convened," Asmara-based Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) Spokesman Yasser Arman told the Weekly. "We insist on a new constitution that will scrap the National Security Act," he added.

Al-Tijani Al-Tayeb, a prominent NDA member and leader of the Sudanese Communist Party, concurred, stressing that the NDA delegated Al-Mirghani to conduct negotiations with Al-Bashir on its behalf. "The NDA Secretary-General and leading member of the SPLA Pagan Amum and other senior NDA members representing all the constituent parties of the umbrella opposition organisation -- and with the exception of the Umma Party, which broke away from the NDA in April to pursue a separate reconciliation pact with Al-Bashir -- support the NDA move. There is unity in the NDA ranks," Al-Tayeb told the Weekly.

Meanwhile in a separate development, the foreign ministers of Egypt, Libya, Sudan and Uganda met in the Ugandan capital Kampala for talks aimed at improving relations between Sudan and Uganda. Libya tried in vain to mediate between Sudan and Uganda in 1996 and again in 1997. Likewise, the Carter Centre, Atlanta, of former US President Jimmy Carter managed to get the Sudanese leader and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni to meet in the Kenyan capital Nairobi last year but failed to restore diplomatic ties between the two African neighbours. The Nairobi peace deal signed by the Sudanese and Ugandan presidents last December collapsed, with mutual antagonisms and accusations of supporting anti-government armed groups in the two countries. Sudan says Uganda provides the SPLA with funds, arms and ammunition. Uganda says that Khartoum backs the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which has been waging a bitter war against Ugandan government forces in the northern part of the country. "We are going to meet soon in Khartoum to work out the details," Ugandan Foreign Minister Eriya Kategaya told reporters after meeting with his Sudanese counterpart. Kategaya said Sudanese government forces were requested to move LRA some 1,000 kilometres north of the Sudan-Uganda border and then disarm and disband them. The Sudanese government-backed LRA have wrought havoc on northern Uganda, plundering the countryside and kidnapping villagers. Hundreds of Ugandan children have been abducted by LRA forces and spirited across the border deep inside Sudan. Uganda insisted on the return of the abducted children, and the Sudanese appear to have complied. "Sudan is committed to see all children return home," Sudan's Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail told reporters in Kampala.

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