American elections shadow Sudanese peace
A final Sudanese peace deal has been stalled once again. But the protagonists, with US prodding, are still inching closer to a resolution of Africa's longest-running conflict, writes Gamal Nkrumah
Sudanese Vice President Ali Othman Taha and John Garang, the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), the country's largest armed opposition group, concluded an agreement on military and security arrangements in Sudan during a six-year interim period after which the people of southern Sudan will vote in a referendum on self-determination that will decide the political future of the entire country.
Taha and Garang also concluded an agreement on the distribution of wealth, including oil. However, certain issues such as power-sharing and the status of the national capital Khartoum remain undecided.
The Sudanese peace talks took place under the auspices of the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD), a regional organisation which groups seven East African countries, including Sudan. But the United States has played a pivotal role behind the scenes to pressure the Sudanese protagonists to remain at the negotiation table.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the umbrella opposition organisation grouping the SPLA and other mainly northern Sudanese opposition parties, has been excluded from the IGAD- sponsored talks. But Sudanese opposition figures have been periodically briefed on the progress of talks.
US President George W Bush dispatched Secretary of State Colin Powell to Kenya to encourage the protagonists to reach a final settlement. The Bush administration is especially keen to accrue political capital by securing a Sudanese peace deal in the run-up to the official launch of the US presidential campaign later this month.
In Kenya, Powell urged the parties to accelerate the pace of negotiations. "The people of Sudan have known hardship and devastation for far too long. All the people of Sudan, northerners and southerners alike, are desperate for an end to this conflict," Powell said. He called the Sudanese conflict, "one of the greatest and longest-running humanitarian tragedies in the world".
Powell also said that President Bush has extended an open invitation to Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Beshir and Garang to visit Washington once they have concluded a final peace settlement.
Washington, however, refused to lift US trade and economic sanctions, including a ban on the sale of arms to Sudan. Much to Khartoum's chagrin, the Bush administration insists that a comprehensive peace deal be signed before trade and economic sanctions can be lifted, and relations between the two countries normalised.
The imposition of trade sanctions since 1997 has had serious repercussions on the Sudanese economy. A White House statement said that the sanctions were extended for another year "because the actions and policies of the government of Sudan continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the US".
In Kenya, Powell reiterated what Washington officials have been saying -- that a lasting cessation of hostilities must precede a resumption of full economic, trade and diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Powell, however, said that the time was ripe for a Sudanese peace deal. "It is absolutely clear to me that the way is now open to a final and comprehensive solution," he said. "This is a moment of opportunity that must not be lost."
The US assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Walter Kansteiner, concurred. "I am an optimist," he said. "I think they can do it."
But in spite of Powell's goodwill trip, it was announced that the Sudanese peace talks would be adjourned until 30 November. Jeff Millington, in charge of the US government's Sudan Peace File, is lobbying hard to get the Sudanese peace talks started on 10 November.
"Instead of speeding things up, Powell's visit actually set the clock back. Little was agreed and wealth distribution was only settled because of the intervention of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, both of whom pledged economic and development assistance," Farouk Abu Eissa, the head of the Cairo-based Arab Lawyers Union and official spokesman for the NDA, told Al-Ahram Weekly.
"Peace in Sudan is high on the Bush administration's agenda, partly to make up for their setbacks in Iraq. They need a foreign policy success story and Sudan is a good candidate," Abu Eissa said.
In a separate development, the SPLA and the hitherto pro-Sudanese government Sudan People's Liberation Movement-United (SPLM-U) signed a merger declaration in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. The two sides agreed to merge their forces, further ensuring southern Sudanese unity. Last year, Riek Machar -- leader of the now defunct Sudan People's Democratic Front (SPDF) -- merged forces with the SPLA. The SPLM-U and the SPDF are dominated by the Shilluk and Nuer tribal groups respectively. The SPLA, on the other hand, is a movement that is seen by some Sudanese as being dominated by the Dinka, southern Sudan's largest ethnic group that constitutes more than half of the southern Sudanese population. Garang, an ethnic Dinka, insists that the SPLA represents all the marginalised and disadvantaged groups of Sudan.
In the past few years the religious card has been played by some southern Sudanese leaders. At the same time, Khartoum has warned that they are egged on by Christian groups in the US and faith- based international humanitarian groups such as Christian Aid. Garang, who describes himself as an "Episcopalian-stroke-Lutheran", plays down both the religious and ethnic factors, preferring instead to stress Sudanese national unity.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 6 - 12 November 2003 (Issue No. 663)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/663/re4.htm