DATE=5/2/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=SUDAN AFTER AL-TURABI
NUMBER=5-46244
BYLINE=HILLETEWORK METHIAS
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
NOT VOICED:
INTRO: Sudan has been trying hard recently to end its
long diplomatic isolation. This has been particularly
true since December, when President Omar Hassan Al-
Beshir dissolved parliament and imposed a state of
emergency. The move was designed to end a power
struggle with his former ally and speaker of
parliament, Hassan Al-Turabi, an Islamist activist
many blame for Sudan's diplomatic isolation. V-O-A's
Hilletework Mathias looks into Khartoum's new policies
toward its neighbors and the United States.
TEXT: President Al-Beshir and Mr. Al-Turabi had long
been allies. The former speaker of parliament was
seen as the guiding force behind the Al-Beshir
government. He supplied the brains and the
organizational skills to pursue Islamization in Sudan
and the president provided the military clout.
But tension between the two was inevitable as Mr.
Turabi -- using his influence as speaker of parliament
-- tried to transfer some of the president's powers to
himself. This apparently angered the Sudanese
president, who finally turned against his old mentor.
The five months since Mr. Turabi was shunted aside
have seen a series of efforts by Sudan to improve ties
with its neighbors and the United States. President
Al-Beshir mended ties with Eritrea and Ethiopia, both
of which had regarded Khartoum as a sponsor of their
dissidents. He and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni
have also agreed to end support for each other's rebel
movements. Though relations with Kampala remain tense,
experts on the region say the pact may have helped
Khartoum in its war against rebels of the Sudan
People's Liberation Army (S-P-L-A). John Hibbard -- a
doctoral candidate at Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore -- has done extensive research on Sudanese
politics.
/// HIBBARD ACT ///
The agreement with Uganda may be a good way to
break up the rebel alliance against the regime.
And this might be one step toward cultivating
some ties with illusive northern opposition
groups or may be even getting Ugandans to limit
the amount of supplies and weapons flowing to
the south. So tactically, it is a very smart
move on a number of fronts.
/// END ACT ///
Khartoum has also resumed high level talks with
Washington, which accuses Sudan of supporting
terrorists. In March, President Al-Beshir told U-S
special envoy Harry Johnston in Khartoum that he
wanted constructive dialogue with the United States.
The envoy was the first senior U-S official to visit
Sudan since a 1998 U-S air attack on a Khartoum
factory. Washington said the plant was making
chemical weapons -- a charge Khartoum has consistently
denied.
Ghazi Salah Addin is Sudan's information minister. He
says his country always sought good ties with its
neighbors and the United States.
/// SALAH ADDIN ACT ///
There is marked improvement in relations between
Sudan and some of its neighbors and some other
countries, which were not in good terms with
Sudan in the past. This can be attributed to
the fact that some of the negative propaganda
against Sudan is now out of the way. We have
never had a principled position against good
relations with the United States. It was the
United States that tried to isolate Sudan
through sanctions, through instigating some of
our neighbors. Maybe now they can find excuses
to change their policy. As a matter of
principle, we would like to have good relations
with the United States and we welcome any change
in their attitudes.
/// END ACT ///
But Sudan expert Hibbard and many others do not see it
that way. The U-S scholar says the ouster of Mr. Al-
Turabi as speaker of parliament is the main factor for
Sudan's current policy toward its neighbors and the
West.
/// HIBBARD ACT ///
The main split between Beshir and Turabi
obviously is motivated by the tension between
the desire to stay within revolutionary ideals
and the desire to get along with the
international system. Turabi represented
heavily the ideological side of the regime that
wanted to continue pursuing the Islamic
revolution and exporting it to its neighbors,
whereas Beshir recognized there are prices to
pay by continuing those kinds of activities not
only in terms of regional tension but in a
larger community by antagonizing the United
States and the United States putting pressure on
its European allies to merely isolate Sudan
within the international community.
/// END ACT ///
But the Sudan People's Liberation Army rebels do not
accept this view, saying President Al-Beshir and Mr.
Al-Turabi are two sides of the same coin [EDS: alike].
Rebel spokesman Samson Kwaje told V-O-A that Khartoum
is trying to deceive the world community.
/// KWAJE ACT ///
Beshir is still continuing to mobilize Jihad or
crusade for fighting for Islam in the south.
Beshir has abolished the normal syllabus in all
elementary and secondary schools in Sudan. He
has now made them Koranic Islamic schools.
Beshir has gone on record saying he will never
abandon Islam. So, all these pronouncements and
actions show there is no difference between
Turabi and Beshir. I hope countries now being
wooed by Sudan will take this into account.
/// END ACT ///
One of those countries, the United States, continues
to have official contacts with Khartoum but remains
critical of Sudan's human rights records. Analysts
say Washington has an open mind about possible changes
in Khartoum's policy since the ouster of Mr. Al-Turabi
as speaker of parliament. But a U-S official told V-
O-A that Washington has not yet seen what he called
"noticeable changes" in Khartoum's policy since Mr.
Al-Turabi's ouster.
But Sudan's main opposition UMMA party, which has
opened dialogue with the government, appears to be
optimistic by developments in Khartoum. Sadiq Al-
Mahdi -- a former prime minister -- is head of the
Cairo-based party. In an interview with V-O-A, Mr.
Al-Mahdi says the Khartoum government is moving in the
right direction.
/// AL-MAHDI ACT ///
I think the regime has realized that its
ideological agenda, which has been the basis of
its policy, has failed and it is now looking
beyond that ideological agenda. They accept
plurality; they accept good neighborliness; they
accept to disengage from previous terrorist
activities. I think they have changed their
language; they have changed their address. The
need now is [that] whatever they say is actually
fulfilled. Our party is going to mobilize
opinions toward the fulfillment of these
promises.
/// END ACT ///
Western aid groups operating in Sudan also support
Khartoum's new efforts to improve relations with its
neighbors and the United States. Raj Narula is a
field officer for the relief agency, Save the Children
U-S-A, which operates in northern Sudan. Mr. Narula
says Khartoum's contacts with its neighbors and the
United States are helping the activities of relief
agencies in Sudan.
/// NARULA ACT ///
Recently, Harry Johnston, President Clinton's
especial envoy visit to Sudan, was quite
encouraging and has generally helped [ease] the
tension in Sudan. The recent improvement in
Sudan's relations with its neighbors has really
helped the atmosphere very much. Many European
donors are providing assistance from relief aid
to rehabilitation, which means we could
undertake activities like education, small
income generating activities for rural women.
These kinds of assistance were prohibited
earlier because of the unstable situation then.
/// END ACT ///
A number of European countries -- which had been
keeping their diplomatic distance from Khartoum -- are
now moving toward normalizing ties with Sudan. Late
last year, Britain sent an ambassador back to
Khartoum, ending a rift that began during the 1998
bombing. Sudan's foreign minister visited France and
Germany and a European Union delegation traveled to
Khartoum to open a dialogue it broke off in 1996, when
U-N resolutions limited international cooperation with
Sudan.
Many regard such moves as important diplomatic steps
toward improving Sudan's relations with the outside
world. But it remains to be seen whether they will
bring the kind of changes Washington and its allies
would like to see in Khartoum.
NEB/HM/JP
02-May-2000 10:29 AM EDT (02-May-2000 1429 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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