From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sat Apr 04 2009 - 04:26:36 EST
U.S. Envoy in Sudan With Olive Branch to Help Darfur
By SANA ABDALLAH (Middle East Times, with agency dispatches)
Published: April 04, 2009
AMMAN -- Making good on his promise for "aggressive diplomacy" to promote
peace in turbulent regions, U.S. President
<http://www.metimes.com/topic/Barack_Obama/> Barack Obama has given his
envoy for Sudan, Scott Gration, a week in Khartoum on a tough mission in a
country swept by regional wars, poverty and a president wanted by the
International Criminal Court on war crime charges in Darfur.
Gration, a retired
<http://www.metimes.com/International/2009/04/03/us_envoy_in_sudan_with_oliv
e_branch_to_help_darfur/9988/> Air Force general, arrived in Khartoum
Thursday on his week-long visit with an olive branch in hand and bolstered
with the hope that cordial dialogue will persuade the Sudanese government
work with the
<http://www.metimes.com/International/2009/04/03/us_envoy_in_sudan_with_oliv
e_branch_to_help_darfur/9988/> international community to end the Darfur
conflict.
Obama's envoy launched his visit by saying that Washington seeks stronger
ties with Sudan and hoped that it would be with "open hands and friendship,"
after 10 years of strained relations that included U.S. sanctions against
Sudan and normalization talks that collapsed last year over Darfur.
"The United States and Sudan want to be partners and so we are looking for
opportunities for us to build a stronger bilateral relationship," Gration
told journalists on the first day of his visit. "I come here with my hands
open and it would be up to the Sudanese government to determine how they
want to continue with that relationship. Hopefully it will be with hands
open and friendship."
Gration, who grew up in Africa and speaks fluent Swahili, added in Arabic
that "like all my American colleagues, 'ana ahib Sudan,'" or "I love Sudan."
Obama offered friendship to countries whose relations with the United States
have been strained have and worsened under the previous administration of
<http://www.metimes.com/topic/George_W._Bush/> George W. Bush if they
"unclench their fist."
In a sign that he intended to follow through with this policy, Obama
appointed the former general as his special envoy to Sudan on March 18, only
two weeks after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President
<http://www.metimes.com/topic/Omar_al-Bashir/> Omar al-Bashir.
Gration, described as one of the top Africa experts in the U.S. government,
grew up with Christian missionary parents in the Democratic Republic of
Congo. Upon his appointment, Obama said in a statement that Sudan was a
priority for his administration, "especially at a time when it cries out for
peace and justice."
The envoy's first priority is to persuade, rather than coerce, the Sudanese
government to reverse its decision to expel about 13 humanitarian
organizations from Darfur on charges that they were providing false
information to the ICC prosecution.
But if Khartoum refuses to revoke that decision, which it is expected to
stick to, the Americans seem to be open to other ways to provide the needed
humanitarian assistance.
After meeting with Gration earlier this week, Obama said, "We have to figure
out a mechanism to get those NGOs back in place, to reverse that decision,
or to find some mechanism whereby we avert an enormous humanitarian crisis."
The envoy told reporters in Khartoum the objective of this trip was to
"look, listen and learn. I am coming here with no illusions, with no
preconceived ideas and no solutions."
While Gration clearly did not come with a pre-conceived plan, Sudanese
officials said they were ready to work with the United States to ensure the
people in Darfur would not be affected.
About 2.7 million people who are displaced by the civil war in Darfur rely
on international aid agencies for food, water and medical care. More than
300,000 people have died in Darfur since the conflict began in 2003, but
Khartoum put the death toll at only 10,000.
Bashir has repeatedly said he would not let those agencies back in and vowed
to "Sudanize" all aid agencies within one year.
But Ali Siddiq, undersecretary at the Foreign Ministry who held talks with
Gration, said the two sides "need to talk about the humanitarian situation
in Darfur, to make sure the United States and Sudan work together . to make
sure that people are not affected."
Siddiq acknowledged that the United States is "a very important country in
the world and Sudan, like many other countries, will always want to maintain
very good and normal relations" with Washington.
At least until Gration makes his visit to Darfur at the weekend, it remains
to be seen what the two sides will agree on to avert exacerbating the
humanitarian crisis and perhaps pave the way for ending the conflict
altogether.
Another difficult task for the U.S. envoy is to try to revive peace talks
between the government and Darfur rebels. Khartoum and the Justice and
Equality rebel movement signed an agreement in Doha in February to launch
peace talks, but the group threatened to back out if the government does not
authorize the return of the expelled aid agencies.
Meanwhile, reports from the Sudanese capital said that Gration on Friday
began meetings with prominent opposition political leaders to hear their
views on how to resolve the Darfur conflict and the other crises facing the
country.
Some opposition groups have proposed a provisional government to oversee a
democratic transition through free elections, saying that democracy was the
only way to pull the country out of wars.
The Sudanese elections commission on Thursday announced that general
elections, including those for president, will be held in February 2010,
which could become the first free elections in the country in 24 years.
President Bashir assumed power in 1989 after a bloodless coup toppled the
elected government of Umma Party leader
<http://www.metimes.com/topic/Sadiq_al-Mahdi/> Sadiq al-Mahdi. Bashir won 87
percent of votes in a 2000
<http://www.metimes.com/International/2009/04/03/us_envoy_in_sudan_with_oliv
e_branch_to_help_darfur/9988/> presidential election that was widely
condemned as a farce by the opposition groups.
http://www.metimes.com/story/media/image/12387630472003/
U.S. special envoy to Sudan, Scott Gration (shown here in Khartoum, April
2), grew up in the Democratic Republic of Congo and speaks fluent Swahili.
On his first day in Sudan, he said to journalists: 'ana ahib Sudan,'" or "I
love Sudan." (AFP via Newscom).
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