Issue No. 598
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8 - 14 August 2002 Issue No. 598 Home news |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Concerned support for Sudan deal
Egypt has welcomed the Sudanese peace protocol with measured support
After overriding the Egyptian-Libyan initiative and signing a breakthrough agreement ending the 20-year civil war in Sudan, Khartoum wants Egypt and other Arab countries to play a role in cementing ties between northern and southern Sudan in the coming six-year interim period, writes Nevine Khalil.
Officially, Cairo welcomed the Machakos protocol signed in Kenya on 20 July between the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM). Under the terms of the protocol, which was endorsed by Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir and SPLM leader John Garang, southern Sudan will be granted a six-year period of administrative autonomy and will not be subject to Islamic law applied in the Arab north. At the end of the six years, animists and Christians, who form a majority in the south -- along with a Muslim minority -- will vote in a referendum on whether they wish to remain part of Sudan or secede. Civil war broke out in 1983 when the SPLM took up arms to end Khartoum's domination, resulting in the death of more than two million people and displacement of more than five million others.
After a meeting on 1 August between President Hosni Mubarak and Sudanese Information Minister Mahdi Ibrahim, Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said that Cairo "strongly supports" Sudan's efforts to bring stability and unity to war-torn Sudan, adding that "Egypt supports this unity in the context of one country in which all people have rights and enjoy the fruits of national wealth." Ibrahim told reporters that Mubarak was "very understanding" of Khartoum's surprise decision to accept the Inter- Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) agreement (strongly supported by Washington), which was seen by many as competing with the 1999 Egyptian- Libyan initiative.
After briefing Mubarak in detail about the content and intent of the Machakos protocol, Ibrahim said that Mubarak sent Al-Bashir a message which "clearly confirms Egypt's strong support for Sudan's efforts to bring peace, stability and development to the people within a united Sudan". He also told reporters that "Egyptian, Libyan and Arab efforts are needed to help make unity a reality in Sudan."
Egypt's concerns stem from the probability that southern Sudan will vote for secession after the six-year interim period, and hence create a new state competing for Nile waters, as well as making it easier for Islamists to dominate northern Sudan.
Ibrahim admitted that Khartoum would have liked Cairo to have been involved at an earlier point, "and we certainly want it present in the coming round which is very important and multi-dimensional". These talks will create the committees charged with implementing the agreement. "We hope that Egypt plays a pivotal role in the coming phase in terms of technical, security and military arrangements, because this will serve Sudan's unity and create a new reality of confidence between the parties," noted Ibrahim. "This will be a real test for the brothers in the north and south, and we want Egypt and Libya to make their presence felt in south Sudan through reconstruction and removing the traces of war."
Khartoum has said it will need Arab, and especially Egyptian input, in the coming phase to carry out its ambitious plan to develop and reconstruct the southern region. "We will enter a race against time to modernise the south and preserve the unity of the country," predicted Al- Bashir's peace adviser Ghazi Salaheddin Atabani. "We call on our brothers in Egypt and in the Arab world to provide us the necessary aid and support."
While the official line was receptive to the Machakos protocol, Egyptian public opinion makers were not so welcoming because the deal sidelined the Arab initiative. Prominent Al-Ahram columnist Salama Ahmed Salama accused the US of working for the secession of southern Sudan in order to get its hands on recently discovered oil reserves. He wrote on Saturday, "The major objective of the US is to eliminate Egyptian-Libyan influence and to abort their initiatives, and to separate the south of Sudan from the north." Salama wanted Egypt to be party to the Kenya protocol instead. "Egypt was completely excluded because of American pressure".
Mustafa El-Feki, the chairman of parliament's foreign affairs committee was also apprehensive about the deal "because referendums usually result in secession". El-Feki, in an article in Al-Ahram, warned that the Machakos protocol presents "indefinite dangers", particularly given that Sudan took such a "critical regional decision in secret, without consulting with its neighbours, especially its 'twin', Egypt". El-Feki's apprehensions are based on the fact that the regime in Khartoum "may not be so intent on keeping Sudan united", and that the protocol lacked the necessary gradual process at the grassroots level, as well as alienating other Sudanese opposition forces. El- Feki also critiqued Khartoum's hastiness in trying to appease Washington, post-11 September, to avoid America's wrath in its war against terror, "which gave the US an appetite for intensifying its interference in Sudan's domestic affairs".
But Ibrahim's talks aimed to allay Cairo's concerns over the protocol, especially the future of southern Sudan. "We are aware of the voices of dissent which are calling for separation because of Sudan's natural resources," said Ibrahim, "but if peace is achieved, this door of division will be slammed shut." At the same time, he asserted that his government was "committed to implementing the protocol, and we are confident that our brothers in the south feel the same. They will realise the changes they wanted, and they will surely choose unity. They wanted justice and power-sharing, and both are guaranteed in the protocol."
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