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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Mon Nov 08 2010 - 15:56:28 EST
U.S. offers Sudan quicker route off terror list
Sun Nov 7, 2010 11:53pm GMT
* U.S. offer decouples Darfur, state terror issues
* Officials emphasize separate Darfur sanctions to stay
* Offer comes as time draws short ahead of January votes
By Andrew Quinn
WASHINGTON, Nov 7 (Reuters) - The United States will drop Sudan from its
list of state sponsors of terrorism as early as July 2011 if Khartoum
ensures two key referendums take place on schedule in January and the
results are respected, senior U.S. officials said on Sunday.
U.S. President Barack Obama made the offer through Senator John Kerry, who
recently told Sudan's leaders the United States was ready to "decouple" the
issue of Darfur from Khartoum's terror designation to win cooperation on the
January polls, the officials said.
"We like to consider this a pay-for-performance operation," one official
said.
The U.S. officials, speaking on background about Kerry's mission to the
region, emphasized that separate U.S. sanctions imposed on Sudan over Darfur
would remain until Khartoum makes progress in resolving the humanitarian
situation in its troubled western region.
But they also held out hope that the offer to end the isolation imposed on
Khartoum by its inclusion on the U.S. state terror list would persuade the
Sudanese government to begin making the necessary concessions to allow the
January votes to proceed as scheduled.
Sudan's two parallel referendums on January 9 could see southern Sudan
secede to become Africa's newest state and decide whether the disputed
oil-rich territory of Abyei joins the north or the south.
The plebiscites were promised under a 2005 peace deal which ended Sudan's
long civil war. But preparations are badly behind schedule and the two sides
continue to disagree on Abyei, raising fears the region could tip back into
violence if the votes are mishandled.
The United States, which has stepped up its diplomacy in Sudan, wants to see
the votes occur peacefully and all related issues, including deals on future
citizenship and the sharing of oil revenues, resolved soon.
MESSAGE FROM OBAMA
Kerry, the powerful Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, has made two trips to Sudan in recent weeks and carried Obama's
latest offer to Khartoum this past weekend, the officials said.
The U.S. State Department added Sudan to its state terror list in 1993,
accusing Khartoum of harboring local and international militants including
for a time al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Sudan is one of four countries on the list along with Cuba, Iran and Syria.
The designation carries sanctions on U.S. foreign assistance, a ban on
defense exports and sales and a raft of restrictions on financial and other
dealings.
Officials say Khartoum has been pushing hard for the United States to remove
it from the list, as Washington did in prior years with both North Korea and
Libya.
Obama's offer moves up by at least six months the date by which Khartoum
might come off the list. But the U.S. officials emphasized a final decision
would still be contingent on Sudan halting all sponsorship of terrorism for
at least six months before the July 2011 target date and pledging not to
resume such assistance in the future.
Separate U.S. sanctions imposed over Darfur -- which Obama extended for
another year on Nov. 1 -- would remain until Khartoum improved conditions in
the region, where the United Nations estimates up to 300,000 people died
following a revolt in 2003, they said.
"Those ... sanctions remain in place and they are the ones that have a
significant effect on Sudan's economy and on the government of Sudan
itself," said another official, who added that future steps such as debt
relief and an exchange of ambassadors would all depend upon progress in
Darfur.
The officials said the United States would continue to press for a deal on
Abyei in talks under the mediation of former South African President Thabo
Mbeki, which have thus far failed to show progress.
"We still believe that there's time to have an on-time referendum on Abyei,
but we recognize that time is of the essence here," the first official said.
(Editing by Todd Eastham)
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
Sudan unmoved on oil region row despite U.S. offer
Mon Nov 8, 2010 10:31am GMT
* Abyei vote deadlock continues
* U.S. terror list removal won't change Abyei vote stand
* Abyei vote looking unlikely to be held Jan. 9
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Sudan refused on Monday to back
down over a disputed referendum in an oil-producing region,
despite a U.S. offer to drop Khartoum from a terror blacklist
provided it goes ahead on schedule alongside a secession vote.
U.S. officials said on Sunday that Washington would remove
Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism by July 2011
if the referendum in Abyei region was held on time on Jan. 9,
when southern Sudan is due to vote on whether to become an
independent nation.
Both referendums were promised under a 2005 north-south
peace deal ending Africa's longest civil war. But arrangements
for the Abyei vote on whether to join north or south Sudan are
hotly contested by the two former warring sides, raising fears
that it would be delayed and provoke a new conflict.
The dispute centres on the Missiriya people, Arab nomads who
travel through Abyei a few months a year to graze their cattle.
The northern ruling National Congress Party (NCP) believes
they should vote whereas the former southern rebel Sudan
People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) says the tribe as a bloc are
not resident and cannot participate in the Abyei referendum.
NO PRIZE ON EARTH
Ibrahim Ghandour, a senior NCP official, made clear the
deadlock stands which means Abyei's vote is unlikely to happen
on time.
"No prize on earth, the terror list ... or whatever will
persuade the NCP to accept that the Missiriya or any other
people of Abyei be denied their rights to participate in the
referendum," he told Reuters.
Many of the Missiriya were mobilised by the NCP to fight
against the south during the civil war. They are likely to vote
for unity to protect their grazing rights, possibly tipping the
vote in the region.
Many people fear that Abyei, a flashpoint of north-south
fighting during a ceasefire violation in 2008, will provoke a
new conflict if it is unresolved before the southern vote,
which most analysts expect to result in secession.
The SPLM have said a settlement could be reached by annexing
Abyei to the south, giving the Missiriya citizenship rights and
offering a financial compensation package to the north to soften
the economic blow of southern secession.
More than half of Sudan's oil output of 470,000 barrels per
day comes from the south which will want to keep the full
proceeds if it becomes an independent state.
"There is no way to annexe Abyei to the south without a
referendum," Ghandour said, but he added that the NCP was open
to some form of settlement if it protected the rights of all
citizens of the oil-producing region.
Preparations for the southern referendum have also been
delayed and the commission planning the vote has cut many
corners to prepare a tight schedule with voter registration
beginning on Nov. 15.
Distracted by Abyei, the two sides have largely neglected
other pressing disputes over defining citizenship, demarcating
the north-south border and dividing Sudan's assets and a massive
external debt of more than $36 billion.
Sudan's north-south conflict claimed some 2 million lives
mostly through hunger and disease and destabilised much of east
Africa.
(Reporting by Opheera McDoom; editing by David Stamp)
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
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