The Need For A Concerted Peace Effort
16 August, 2020
Saudi Arabia Minister of Foreign Affairs Faisal bin Farhan addresses the opening session of the Friends of Sudan meeting in Riyadh
A quick look at the final communique of the Friends of Sudan meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia last week would easily dismiss it as yet another lip service. After all it is the eighth round of these meetings that have not produced any tangible result so far.
However, inside the communique few lines attract attention when the meeting expressed concerns regarding those who stayed outside the peace process and called on all parties to engage in good faith and, “refrain from counterproductive demands”. Moreover, it cautioned spoilers to the peace process of, “consequences that could be imposed on them”.
Whether by chance or design the following day to the Riyadh meeting, the US State department announced that it has imposed visa restrictions on some former Sudanese officials and others for their efforts to undermine the transitional government. No list was provided, which may indicate that it may include some current players in the scene.
This could be taken as a signal of some seriousness, but the situation requires far more aggressive approach. First who is going to decide whether this or that party is spoiler and which issue could be termed counterproductive? For instance the SPLA-North faction led by Abdel Aziz Al-Hilu insists that the government commits to a secular state or have self-determination, a position opposed by Donald Booth, the current US special envoy to Sudan,, who went on record earlier this year as saying that he tried to convince the SPLM-N Al-Hilu to engage in peace talks with the Sudanese government and stressed that he told them that his country would not support their demand for self-determination.
Booth added, “they (the government) have pointed out that they had made changes to many laws: they have bravely increased religious freedom, restricted the application of Sharia law but that sort of retail approach has not satisfied the SPLM-N Al-Hilu faction," he said.
"I have tried to convince them that is something even the United States or others will not support," he stressed.
Booth is not alone in his position, Three years ago James Wani Igga South Sudanese Vice President warned his former comrade, AL-Hilu against endorsing calls for the self-determination. "The Nuba Mountains themselves do not have the constitutive elements of a state," Wani further said.
This raises the question: if the most import player in the scene, the US and the main backer and mother movement, SPLM, are against tabling self-determination by Al-Hilu will this be justifiably regarded as counterproductive demand that requires some sort of an action?
Equally does the position of the Darfur rebel leader Abdel Wahid Knur, who refused to engage in any peace process qualify for the same definition of being spoiler and counterproductive or not?
On the other hand, visa restrictions and freezing bank accounts are the most likely punishment measures that could be applied, but they are no more than slap on the arm, because they are ineffective unless they have a worldwide implementation.
And that is why it is more important to have one body armed with the necessary political will to push ahead with the peace process using carrot and stick tactics within an agreed upon strategy to accomplish the mission.
That was part of the mechanism applied by the US Special envoy then John Danforth when he was negotiating the CPA between Sudan government and the SPLA. Part of his job was to report to the US president whether the parties are negotiating in good faith and who is to blame if there are concerns.
Now more than ten months have been spent so far without concluding a deal with those negotiating in Juba, leaving aside those who have not joined the process yet like Al-Hilu and Nur. Part of the problem rests with the government, who have ignored that it stands on the high moral ground as it represents the people of the country, who managed to topple a ruthless, pariah regime peacefully and in a single-hand popular uprising.
The issues that are being discussed during the current peace process have been thoroughly researched and investigated throughout the years. What is missing is a political will backed by a unified international stand that is willing and ready to apply carrots and sticks to conclude a sustainable peace.
And that is where Friends of Sudan can be of help, but Khartoum needs to lead the way in a more concerted and coordinated manner.
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