Soothing Sudan
Although the ideological divide remains, it has become evident that the Sudanese government and opposition forces have finally decided to pull together, writes Gamal Nkrumah
The main players in the Sudanese civil war need each other more than they admit. Neither can afford to make an enemy of the other any longer. As incongruous as it seems, a high-level Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) delegation is visiting the Sudanese capital Khartoum. The SPLA, the country's most powerful armed opposition group, has been embroiled with government forces in a bitter civil war in southern Sudan that has claimed the lives of an estimated two million people and resulted in the displacement of many millions more.
In an unprecedented development, Sudanese Vice-President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha met with Mohamed Osman Al-Mirghani, the leader of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The NDA is the umbrella organisation grouping the SPLA and other mainly northern Sudanese opposition groups. The two men signed a landmark peace accord, a move which was hailed by both the Sudanese government and opposition parties as a major advance for the hitherto tortuously slow Sudanese political reconciliation process.
Critics of the Sudanese peace process say that each side has crafted the right rhetoric to please its domestic constituencies. But the deal effectively paves the way for the Sudanese opposition groups to play a more meaningful role in Sudanese politics.
The precise details of the peace agreements have not been made public, but the Jeddah accord stipulates that the political system in Sudan "must be democratic, multi-party and presidential". It also states that the new dispensation must guarantee the "peaceful change of power through free elections". A copy of the agreement obtained by some international news agencies revealed that the two parties were determined to iron out their differences peacefully and reach a comprehensive peace settlement. The crux of the Jeddah accord is that the Sudanese government will not ride roughshod over basic human rights. "Citizenship is the basis of rights and duties without discrimination between the citizens on religious, ethnic or political grounds," the accord stipulated.
"All NDA parties, including the SPLA, have mandated me to sign the agreement," Al-Mirghani told reporters in Jeddah. "The road for returning home has been paved," the NDA leader said. He has been living in self-imposed exile in Egypt, Eritrea and Saudi Arabia for the past 14 years.
In a separate but closely related development, tens of thousands of SPLA supporters welcomed a visiting SPLA delegation to the capital last Friday. The high-powered SPLA delegation is in Khartoum to galvanise support for the Sudanese peace process. This is the first time since the Sudanese civil war broke out 20 years ago that SPLA leaders visited the Sudanese capital. An open show of support for the SPLA by the people of Khartoum would have been unthinkable only a year ago. "The [SPLA] visit to Khartoum and the warm reception it received by jubilant crowds of supporters was another sign of changing times and paves the way for the triumphant return of [SPLA leader John] Garang to Khartoum," SPLA Spokesman Yassir Arman told Al-Ahram Weekly.
Peace talks in the Kenyan city of Naivasha -- 80 kilometres northwest of the capital Nairobi -- resumed last week. On Sunday, Garang and Sudanese Vice-President Taha joined the talks, heading their respective negotiating teams. In what is being considered as the last round of Sudanese peace talks, the two leaders met to put the finishing touches to the long-anticipated peace agreement. Last month, Taha and Garang 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.
However, certain issues such as power-sharing, the distribution of wealth, including oil revenues, and the status of the national capital Khartoum remain pending. Under the security agreement, which was signed in Naivasha, the bulk of the Sudanese government forces will vacate southern Sudan -- the main theatre of the Sudanese civil war.
However, a number of outstanding issues remain unresolved. Key among these issues is whether Islamic Shari'a law will be applied in Khartoum or whether, as the national capital, the city will be granted special secular status.
The Sudanese peace talks in Kenya are taking place under the auspices of the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD), a regional organisation made up of seven East African countries, including Sudan. IGAD stipulated that the peace talks be strictly restricted to the Sudanese government and the SPLA.
In the past, certain NDA factions expressed concern that they were excluded from the Sudanese peace process. The Sudanese government had long argued that instead of expressing alarm at the rapprochement between the Sudanese government and the SPLA, the NDA should be positively encouraging such moves. Indeed, while objecting to its exclusion from the peace talks, the NDA leaders have tacitly supported the Sudanese peace process.
These are momentous times for the Sudanese. A test of real leadership awaits Sudanese government leaders and opposition figures. Lasting peace and a new democratic dispensation appear to be closer than ever before in Sudan's chequered post-independence history. Both risk and opportunity beckon.
The stickiest part of the deal is the nature of the relationship with political opposition groups that remain outside of the NDA, such as the Umma Party headed by Sadig Al-Mahdi and the followers of Hassan Al-Turabi, the secretary-general of the Popular Congress Party -- not to be confused with the ruling National Congress Party.
Turabi, in the twilight of his career, may be looking for his place in history. "Freedom has been guaranteed by Allah to the people who must be given the opportunity to freely elect their leaders," Turabi said recently.
The leading Islamist ideologue in Sudan, the charismatic Turabi, has a large and faithful following. But after his party signed a memorandum of understanding with the SPLA in Switzerland in 2000, he was put under house arrest. He was sacked as speaker of the Sudanese Parliament, not just because of the usual search for a scapegoat at a time of impending change, but also to curtail his ability to attract followers. Behind much of the back-biting was resentment at the enduring popularity of Turabi. It did not take long for the government to adopt Turabi's reconciliatory overtures to the SPLA. The Sudanese government now seems convinced Turabi should not be brushed aside.
In the recent past, democracy was the central issue dividing Sudanese government and opposition figures. Now it seems that democracy is bringing Sudanese factions together. Every political group under the sun in Sudan wants to get its voice heard.
"People in Sudan are tired of war. Everyone wants peace. Too many people have died; too many people are suffering because of the war," Farouk Abu Eissa, the head of the Cairo-based Arab Lawyers Union and official spokesman for the NDA told the Weekly. "If lives can be saved in simple and practical ways, that is a worthy goal."
The Sudanese government now seems committed to peace. "They must realise that there is nothing for them to gain by dragging out the endgame," Abu Eissa said.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 11 - 17 December 2003 (Issue No. 668)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/668/re2.htm