The secretary-general of Sudan's ruling party warns that the division of Sudan is "the hidden agenda" of the Western outcry over Darfur, Dina Ezzat reports The tragedy of Darfur, where 200,000 people are estimated to have died over the past four years, is far from over. Disagreements between Khartoum and the rest of the world, including some Arab quarters, stall all efforts at resolving the issue. The bottom line of a long political -- and for that matter legal -- debate between Khartoum and key Western powers led by the US is whether or not international peacekeepers can go into Darfur to prevent warring factions -- those supported by the government and those not -- from killing each other and others. The West insists on an international presence and the Sudanese regime rejects it. "Of course we are opposed to it ... we are still opposed to it. We want an answer but we do cannot allow a part of Sudan to be turned into an international protectorate," said Ibrahim Ahmed Omar, secretary-general of (northern) Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP). The Islamist NCP ruling party that has been in power for close to two decades, during which the country has fallen into civil war over the NCP imposing Sharia law on all Sudanese -- including wide non-Muslim regions -- and over wealth and power sharing. Having failed to tighten its grip on power, the NCP recently had come to terms with many of its political opponents, especially in the south where it brokered a compromising deal with the powerful and Western-supported Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM). A deal with its political foes in Darfur, however, is still illusive while the humanitarian and environmental toll of the conflict burgeons. Pressure continues to build. In December, the UN Human Rights Council established a Darfur fact- finding committee. This week, Khartoum declined to grant the UN team entry visas. For Ibrahim Ahmed Omar, from the Sudanese government's point of view, the concern is not with whatever findings the international team might uncover, but rather the mandate and approach of the international community towards Sudan. Speaking in Cairo at the Maadi headquarters of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Relations, Omar insisted that Sudan is a sovereign country and would act as such. "We are aware of the international pressures. We know the power of the other. We are aware of our limitations. And we acknowledge the wisdom of rational thinking and wise political performance. However, we are not prepared to compromise our sovereignty in any way," he sated. According to remarks made by Omar during a two-hour discussion with a mostly diplomatic audience, Western powers have long eyed Darfur as a potential gateway to intervention in Sudan. "The fact of the matter is that the file of Darfur was opened only when the case of the south was settled," Omar said. What the West has in mind are not the interests of the Sudanese in the south, west or east -- and certainly not the north. "The West wants to see Sudan divided. This is the scheme adopted by Western foreign policy." He added: "We know it is not just about Darfur." Such a division of Sudan, according to Omar, would serve many of the West's interests, "and for that matter of Israel, the Western agent in this region". Dividing "a strong Arab Muslim country", Omar argued, is an end in itself. The West has been trying hard to dilute the Arab/Muslim character of the Middle East. Moreover, he added, a divided Sudan is more likely to succumb to Western economic schemes that aim to control the oil and natural resources of this rich part of Africa. "The Americans cannot accept the fact that Sudan has large and very much unexploited oil reserves while it is not bowing to the will of Washington. They know that they cannot get this government to succumb to their wishes," Omar argued. "Once Sudan is divided," he added, "Israel would get rid of this big Arab/Muslim country that is still calling it an enemy and would have instead smaller entities [to contend with]," most of which it can conduct relations with. "The fact of the matter is that Sudanese public radio is still calling Israel the enemy," he stated. According to the NCP's secretary-general, "this is a good reason why the Israelis and Zionist groups all over the world, especially in the US, are dedicating much attention to the issue of Darfur when it is not the only humanitarian crisis in the world." Omar would not go as far as denying the volume of human suffering in Darfur. Nor did he reject the largely accommodating remarks made by his audience about the need to "bring the suffering in Darfur to an end". On the contrary, Omar was keen to convey that his party is determined to resolve this issue, "but only within an African context". According to Omar, "Sudan has already demonstrated much flexibility in accepting the presence of UN technical assistance to African Union (AU) forces currently present in Darfur and is willing to show more flexibility in this context," he said. He promptly added, however, that his regime would not accept the presence of international troops on the territories of Darfur. "We said we accept the enlargement of AU troops. We said we insist that the commander of any troops present in Sudan should be strictly African." Omar finds it "most unconvincing" for many world capitals and international organisations to argue a firm need for international troops on the basis of the financial and technical limitations of the AU in Darfur. "Instead of spending the money to send international troops from all over the world, they can simply provide financial and technical assistance to AU troops already stationed in Darfur," he said. Omar held Egypt and other key Arab and African states responsible for supporting Sudan in its demand to maintain full sovereignty over its territories. To fail to support Sudan in this might lead to "disturbing scenarios". While in Cairo for two days this week, Omar held intensive talks with Egyptian officials to enhance Egyptian involvement. "For us the support of Egypt is simply essential," he said. Developments in Darfur and the row between the international community and Khartoum was discussed last week in the French city of Cannes during a meeting that brought together the presidents of France, Egypt, Sudan and neighbouring Chad and Central Africa. During the meeting, Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir expressed the goodwill of his country to resolve the crisis in Sudan. For his part, President Mubarak insisted that the cultural and political complexities involved required close African handling rather than direct and possibly insensitive international intervention. Meanwhile, Omar pressed that it is not enough for Egypt to make its voice heard at the international level in relation to developments in Sudan. "Egypt has much weight. When Egypt speaks, all political factions in Sudan listen," Omar argued. He said Egypt should work harder on pressuring concerned factions to make required political compromises. Omar was keen to stress that the NCP was counting on Cairo to communicate a message of compromise to the SPLM, which remains in conflict with the NCP over the implementation of the Nivasha peace deal brokered four years ago. Compromise, Omar and many other northern Sudanese hope, should discourage southern leaders from promoting the secession of the south of Sudan -- an option pending a future referendum as stipulated in the Nivasha peace deal. "We will not force unity on the south, but we really hope that we stick to unity. It is not in the interest of the Sudanese to pursue lines of division," he said. On Sunday, the NCP and the SPLM declared plans to convene high-ranking meetings to overcome problems that have surfaced during the past few months in relation to the political, diplomatic and financial prerogatives granted by virtue of the Nivasha peace deal to southern rulers. "We know that the road ahead is hard. We know that we have several problems to resolve and that with every peace deal we brokered there are still some [loopholes] to worry about. But we in the NCP are committed to do everything we can to resolve the problems and eliminate the suffering with an eye on our objective of Sudan's development and unity," Omar said.
