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Africa Policy E-Journal
Sudan: Policy Proposals, 1 Africa Policy Electronic Distribution List: an information service provided by AFRICA ACTION (incorporating the Africa Policy Information Center, The Africa Fund, and the American Committee on Africa). Find more information for action for Africa at http://www.africapolicy.org +++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: East Africa SUMMARY CONTENTS: This posting contains two recent policy statements on Sudan, one from the Canadian Sudan Inter-Agency Reference Group and the other the executive summary of a new report from the Sudan task force of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a leading center-right Washington thinktank. Another posting today contains a critique of the CSIS report. This posting also includes brief excerpts from other reports: Christian Aid on "Oil and War in Sudan, One World on independence for Southern Sudan, and Human Rights Watch on new internal conflict in the South. The posting begins with a cover note from Salih Booker, executive director of Africa Action. +++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Oil Rush a Key Obstacle to Peace The world's longest war grinds on in Sudan, with increased bombing of civilians by the Khartoum government, massive civilian displacement linked to oil development, new government-manipulated fighting among groups in the south, and continuation of slave-raiding as one of the human-rights abuses encouraged by Khartoum. With predictions of displaced people at risk of famine rising towards the one million mark, relief agencies face both shortages of funds and the inability to reach people cut off by fighting. All the reports in this and the next posting agree that new and much stronger international efforts for peace, at different levels, are essential. Without an end to the war, these abuses will only continue. But peace efforts will be futile if built on illusions. "Constructive engagement" with the minority regime in Khartoum, which remains the principal architect of war and obstacle to peace, will only promote further intransigence. The oil revenues that finance the government's war efforts should be shut off and their resumption tied to a timetable for achieving a just peace. Much else needs to be done, of course, to increase the chances for peace. Promotion of human rights and democracy in the North as well as the South is an indispensable ingredient for peace, not just a goal to be postponed until after a settlement (see last year's Kampala Declaration of Sudanese civil society - http://www.africapolicy.org/docs00/sud0007.htm). But if Washington under the Bush administration, as well as Ottawa and Stockholm, regard pressure on the oil industry as 'out-ofbounds,' their statements in favor of peace will ring empty. Salih Booker ############################################################### Statement by the Sudan Inter-Agency Reference Group February 13, 2001
Note: The Sudan Inter-Agency Reference Group (SIARG) is a forum
of 22 Canadian organizations with programming on Sudan. For the
text of SIARG's letter to parliament, see
Constructive Engagement with Sudan Is Not Working One year ago, the Harker Report on human rights violations in Sudan was released, and the Government of Canada embarked on a policy of "constructive engagement" with the Government of Sudan and Talisman Oil, a Canadian oil company that is in business with the Government of Sudan. Today, members of the Sudan Inter-Agency Reference Group (SIARG) claim that the policy of constructive engagement has not been successful, and they are asking for a change in direction to support the people of Sudan. In Sudan, like China, Canadian financial interests have been given priority over the security and human rights of the people of Sudan, in the name of "constructive engagement." In a letter to Members of Parliament, SIARG claims there is scant evidence of positive results from Canada's current policy, while there is abundant evidence that life for the people of Sudan is worse than it was one year ago. Among others, they cite the following facts:
The war in Sudan has already claimed over two million lives and forced more than four million people to leave their homes. More people have been impacted by this conflict in the last decade than all the wars in the Balkan region combined, but the world at large has turned a blind eye to the suffering of the Sudanese. Control over oil resources has become a focal point for the conflict, along with demands for separation of the state from Islamic religious laws and self-determination for the people in Southern Sudan. One sign of hope in Sudan is growing peace efforts by civil society organizations. These include the "people-to-people" peace process launched by church leaders in Southern Sudan, and the struggling efforts of human rights groups in both the North and the South to hold their government accountable. They hoped the Harker Report would help their cause, but Canada's failure to act on it undermines their heroic efforts. These people are consistent in their message that oil development now scuttles hopes for peace. Canada's policy is inconsistent in that it supports peace building through CIDA and then undermines it with trade decisions that fuel increased conflict. Members of SIARG propose a shift in Canada's foreign policy to support the people of Sudan. This would include: 1. High level diplomatic initiatives by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs to hold the Government of Sudan accountable for human rights violations should include public statements. A strong and consistent campaign should be pursued in the international arena to stop the serious human rights abuses. These include violations of the Geneva Conventions for conduct during war, the Convention on the Rights of the Child which applies during conflict, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and more specific international laws against torture, slavery, genocide, displacement, and denial of access to humanitarian assistance. Earlier this year a strong, public campaign by non-government organizations (NGOs) and friendly governments stopped Sudan from getting a seat on the Security Council. Greater transparency in the diamond trade in Sierra Leone resulted from a public campaign by governments and NGOs; the same approach should be applied to Sudan. 2. Provide greater support for civil society peace initiatives and greater balance to Canada's presence in Khartoum by increasing support for sustained, independent, human rights monitoring in the areas where oil development is taking place and publicly releasing these reports. 3. Consider supporting United States' initiatives to prevent oil development from contributing to the conflict. The Sudan Peace Act, proposed earlier this year, includes measures to cut off access to capital markets for investments in Sudan. Proposing similar measures in Canada would help in Canada's desire to build good relations with the US Congress. 4. Commit to introducing new legislation to deal with "militarized commerce" and mandate the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs to hold public hearings on what should be included in a new law that would provide effective tools to hold all Canadian companies accountable for complicity in contributing to armed conflict. 5. Publicly report on the failure of Sudan to keep the agreements it made in Winnipeg on behalf of children and aggressively seek international support to secure the release of the children abducted from Northern Uganda and stop the bombings of schools, health centers, and other places where children gather. The Sudan Inter-Agency Reference Group includes a variety of Canadian development, peace, and human rights organizations that work with counterparts in both North and South Sudan.
U. S. Policy to End Sudan's War
Executive Summary Although the policy debate on Sudan encompasses a myriad of issues, the CSIS task force concluded that the central problem on which virtually everything else hinges is the devastating war that has raged in Sudan since 1983. Now is an opportune and appropriate moment for the United States to join actively in a strong multilateral push, in collaboration with interested European powers, to end Sudan's internal war. A sine qua non to any future progress is the cessation of the government of Sudan's aerial bombardment of civilian humanitarian sites in the south. Sudan continues to matter significantly to U. S. interests - on human rights, humanitarian, and security grounds. Washington cannot afford to ignore Sudan's extreme circumstances, rooted overwhelmingly in Sudan's 18- year internal war. The new administration is well positioned to take a fresh look and move beyond a policy of containment and isolation that has made little headway in ending Sudan's war, reforming Khartoum, or ameliorating Sudan's humanitarian crisis and gross human rights abuses. Realistically, the only viable course to end Sudan's war and see progress in other critical areas is through a hard-nosed strategy based on diplomacy, heightened engagement with all parties, enhanced inducements and punitive measures, and concerted multilateral initiatives. In the past two years, Sudan's rising oil production has shifted the balance of military power in the government's favor at the same time that significant internal rifts have surfaced in Khartoum. The surrounding region is in flux in its relations to the Sudan conflict, and it has become clear that competing regional peace initiatives hold no promise. In this fluid context, the United States possesses significant leverage. Among major powers, it is the lone holdout in renewing a dialogue with Khartoum. Equally important, it is the principal backer, in humanitarian and diplomatic terms, of the southern Sudanese opposition, recognizes the south's moral cause, and will not countenance the military subjugation of the south. In brief, the task force recommends that the Bush administration exercise leadership on Sudan:
Other New Policy Reports on Sudan (brief excerpts)
Christian Aid In Sudan, oil and war are inextricably linked. For this reason Christian Aid, which has been working for 30 years in Sudan, and its partners, recommend that:
OneWorld US Special Report A study prepared by Dunstan M. Wai, an exiled Southern Sudanese scholar. The two main points argued here are that it is time for world leaders to focus on a solution for the Sudan, and the solution must involve self-determination for the Southern Sudanese people. It is the contention of his paper that U.S.- and all external - involvement should be aimed at brokering an end to the conflict and a referendum allowing southern Sudanese to choose between remaining part of the Sudan or becoming a separate nation.
Humanitarian Disaster in Southern Sudan Despite the complexity of the situation in southern Sudan, early and skillful U.S. diplomatic intervention could make a significant difference in sparing the lives of tens of thousands of civilians. The Nuer-Nuer fighting, a war within a war, for now overshadows the civil war in ferocity of fighting and cost in civilian lives. But it is also very integral to the civil war, which since 1983 pits the Khartoum government against marginalized peoples, particularly Africans in the southern third of the country. The current crisis also involves the unraveling of the Wunlit agreement, signed in 1999 and enthusiastically endorsed by the U.S., which put an end to years (1991-99) of Dinka-Nuer cross-border raids. These raids involved thousands of civilian casualties, large-scale theft of cattle, abduction of women and children, and destruction of hundreds of villages. Attacks on civilians and the ruin of the pastoral economy were the immediate cause of the devastating 1993 famine in southern Sudan, in which tens of thousands perished. The current fighting follows the same pattern, and recurrence of famine is almost inevitable unless immediate action is taken. As usual, a key actor in the current violence among southerners is the Khartoum government, which arms whichever factions and militias are fighting the SPLA. The Khartoum strategy of divide and destroy has worked extremely well in the past, keeping southerners split - Dinka from Nuer, and Nuer from Nuer. Accordingly, Wunlit was the government s worst nightmare, and its disintegration serves Khartoum well. By provoking divisions among Nuer and other southerners, Khartoum can develop the rich oil resources that lie beneath Nuer territory.
Documents previously distributed in the e-journal are
available on the Africa Action website: To be added to or dropped from the e-journal subscription list, write to e-journal@africaaction.org. For more information about reposted material, please contact directly the source mentioned in the posting.
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Africa Policy E-Journal
