13 - 19 September 2001
Issue No.551
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 13 - 19 September 2001 Issue No.551 |
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Oil and peace
Washington's appointment of a special envoy charged with brokering peace in Sudan has been cautiously welcomed by the African country. Thomas Gorguissian reports from Washington
Last week President George W Bush announced the appointment of John C Danforth as his Special Envoy to Sudan. For months, the talk has been that the administration was looking for ways to end the civil war and bring peace to this suffering country. Observers had concluded that Sudan matters for many reasons. Both oil and faith-based politics are viewed to have played role in shaping and moving forward Bush's policies.
"I am under no illusions. Jack Danforth is taking on an incredibly difficult assignment," President Bush said. He added: "But this is an issue that is really important. It's important to this administration. It's important to the world to bring some sanity to the Sudan."
A former senator and ordained minister, Danforth, in accepting the task, acknowledged he is not an expert on Sudan. "The possibility of peace depends on the will of combatants ó not on the actions of even the best-intentioned outsiders, including the United States. Perhaps America can encourage peace; we cannot cause it," he said, adding that he is prepared to deal constructively with both sides of the conflict, namely, the government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).
The 65-year-old envoy also said "the effectiveness of America's efforts for peace in Sudan will depend on our communication and cooperation with other interested countries, including the European Union and countries neighboring Sudan, especially Egypt and Kenya." The ceremony, in which Bush announced his selection of Danforth as envoy took place in the Rose Garden and was attended by members of Congress, human rights and Christian groups, and those who have "interests" in Sudan. Also among the attendees was Francis Bok, a 22-year-old Sudanese former slave.
Robert Oakley, former US ambassador to Zaire, Pakistan and Somalia, will be Danforth's chief deputy. The two men are planning to visit Sudan soon to assess the situation and the possibilities for a peace agreement. In the last few months, veteran Republican politicians and career diplomats had turned down the envoy position. The list included former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Reagan-era White House adviser Elliott Abrahms and former Assistant Secretary of State Chester Crocker.
The Sudanese government cautiously welcomed the appointment of the special envoy. Minister of Foreign Relations Mustafa Osman Ismail was quoted in the government-owned newspaper Al-Anbaa saying, "The position of the Sudanese government is firm on accepting an American role in the ending of the war and helping in achieving peace. This role is linked to impartiality and transparency in relations between the two countries." The Sudanese official also said the previous American administration had not been neutral, and instead that it had fueled the conflict.
On that same road of rapprochement it was announced that the UN Security Council is expected to lift sanctions against Sudan this month. With US consent, a meeting for that purpose has been scheduled for 17 September.
"This signals the encouragement we feel from Sudan and the United States to move forward," French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte, the current council president, told reporters. But "a grain of sand could still block the machine," he said.
Bush's administration, while launching the Sudan peace initiative, made no secret that oil had played and will play a crucial role in reaching a deal.
"Oil could make both sides realise that they'll be better off if they can take advantage of this new income," a well-placed US official told the Los Angeles Times. "It may make the government willing to hold its nose and give political concessions to the south to get those economic benefits," he added.
The initiative includes aid dollars, too, as is usually the case with such American endeavours. The US will pledge between $25 million and $30 million. About half of this amount will go to food aid, primarily in the north, and the other half to two development programmes for the south.
Meanwhile, Bush officials are resisting legislation that includes an amendment to bar foreign oil companies doing business in Sudan from listing on US stock exchanges. In June, the US House of Representatives passed the Sudan Peace Act. An amendment to this act that would this restriction on oil companies has been sponsored by Alabama Republican Rep. Spencer Bachus. Efforts are underway by those in the Bush camp in the House and Senate to eliminate the ban from the final version of the legislation. This step may anger Christian and anti-slavery groups who worked hard to introduce and obtain support for the amendment.
In response Danforth's appointment the SPLA welcomed the appointment of the special envoy in a statement issued by its office in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. "The movement wishes to assure the US government that it will cooperate fully with the special envoy in his endeavour towards bringing the war to a just and speedy end through a just, peaceful and lasting political settlement."
The present American initiative once again revived the possibility that Sudan might be partitioned. Although Washington officially does not endorse such plans or even make comments about them, the proposal of "One nation and two systems" was widely discussed during recent months and even advocated by some politicians and academics.
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