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U.S. Involvement in Sudan Peace Process Keeps Both Sides at Table

(USIP takes leading role in push for negotiated settlement) (660)
By Kelly Machinchick
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- Last July, the main adversaries in Sudan's brutal
20-year civil war took the first purposeful steps toward peace and
gave a desperate Sudanese populace cause for hope. The United States
government, among all international donors, has been integral in this
push for an end to the fighting that has claimed over two million
lives and destabilized the northeastern region of Africa, according to
the United States Institute of Peace (USIP).
The Machakos Peace Protocol, signed by the government of Sudan and the
Sudanese People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) last July, began a
transition process between the two warring camps, according to a USIP
press release, and the U.S. has acted as the key facilitator in
keeping the peace process on track.
USIP views the Sudanese peace process as critical to Africa's
well-being as well as to America's security since U.S. commitment to
this process would not only lead to a humanitarian triumph but also to
an increase in development and sweeping successes in the U.S.-led war
against terrorism.
Congress established the U.S. Institute for Peace as a
non-governmental organization (NGO) in 1984 to promote research,
education, and training on the peaceful resolution of international
conflicts. Last year, the NGO created a Sudan Peace Forum (SPF), a
group of "Sudan experts drawn from the Bush Administration, Congress,
academe, and U.S. civil society organizations" to monitor and discuss
developments in the Sudan peace process and to suggest new approaches
to strengthen the process.
The SPF is co-chaired by USIP Board Chairman Chester A. Crocker and
USIP Senior Fellow Francis M. Deng, who in three meetings convened
this year have drawn on the expertise of "high-ranking national and
international public officials and other experts" to stimulate
in-depth discussion among key individuals involved in the Sudan peace
process. The SPF, according to the USIP release, also serves as a
clearinghouse for information on the Machakos Peace Protocol within
the Africa community and publishes reports intended to help the
negotiations.
The co-chairs have emphasized that the U.S. government's continued
high-level commitment has been a vital aspect of the progress attained
over the past year. American diplomacy, stated the USIP release, "has
been an important force for cohesion, binding the numerous
international actors and the Sudanese parties together."
The main challenges to the peace process remain how to achieve both
"unity and justice." According to USIP, while the Sudanese government
has continued to violate both the established ceasefire and the human
rights of the people of the SPLM/A, the latter are not faultless,
having conducted operations over the last year that have been harmful
to the peace process.
The warring factions still remain far apart on several key issues,
including the marginalized areas of Abyei, the Nuba Mountains, and the
Southern Blue Nile, whose people have much in common with the South
although falling under Northern jurisdiction, and the talks in Kenya
have focused on these areas. USIP scholars believe that the success of
the peace talks hinge on the resolution of the problems afflicting
these areas and in past presentations, officials and scholars have
noted that the Nuba people are essential to the peace process.
Despite the challenges, progress has been made. The two sides have
hammered out a ceasefire in the Nuba Mountains and an agreement for
wealth (oil-revenue) sharing, and the Sudanese government has
committed to allowing eventual self-determination of the South. These
agreements, according to the USIP release, have required major
concessions by both sides and would have been impossible without U.S.
engagement throughout the negotiating process.
In addition to the SPF, USIP has continued to conduct conferences and
working groups, support research into the Sudan crisis, and award
grants of nearly $1 million to projects working to end the war.
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)