US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits Darfur even as the debate over Sudan's political future still rages, writes Gamal Nkrumah United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flew to the West African state of Senegal on Wednesday, the first leg of an African and Middle Eastern tour. However, Rice's visit to Africa has been cut short so that she can visit Israel and the West Bank later this week. But Rice, who is visiting Africa for the first time since assuming office earlier this year, made sure to schedule a stop over in Sudan. In the Senegalese capital Dakar, Rice urged the African Union (AU) to cut through bureaucratic, logistical and political hurdles and hurry up with the deployment of troops in Sudan's war-torn region of Darfur. The role played by the US in determining Sudan's political future has assumed great importance in the past year. US President George W Bush has come under intense pressure from the Christian Right and African-American groups to do more to resolve the Darfur crisis. He is also interested in developing Sudan's oil industry. The debate on Sudan's political future has been both fraught and one-sided. Washington has incontestably been the deciding factor, and Rice's visit to Sudan this week underlines this fact. "The AU has to move. And, it cannot get caught up in any bureaucratic or political concerns," Rice told reporters in Washington before she left for Dakar. Rice said that she was liaising with congressmen and other US decision-makers to ensure that the "AU is making progress towards getting their forces in [Darfur] because we know that in areas where there are monitors, the violence diminishes." Rice paid special tribute to Sudan's new Vice President John Garang, stressing that he was making all the right noises. "[Garang] has been saying the right things about Darfur," she said. During her trip to Senegal, she is expected to highlight US efforts to improve trade ties with developing countries promoting democratic reform. Rice is in Senegal to participate in the US-Africa Trade and Economic Forum, better known as AGOA. The forum includes all African countries south of the Sahara, including Sudan. However, it excludes North African states. AGOA, aims at changing US legislation to improve access to US markets for African products. But, the chief purpose of her African tour was to drum up support for the Sudanese peace process. In Sudan, Rice is expected to press for improved security and aid relief in the western Darfur region, where she is scheduled to visit a refugee camp. "I'll try to say to people that there is hope, that nobody is forgotten, that we are working very very hard," Rice said in Washington. Rice expressed concern about the deplorable humanitarian situation in Darfur. "I'll talk to the non-governmental organisations that are on the front-lines. And I'll say that even the darkest moments in any country can be overcome. It's a very horrible situation." The war in Darfur has rendered more than two million people homeless and claimed the lives of an estimated 180,000. Another problem that Rice is expected to raise with the Sudanese authorities is the escalation of fighting in eastern Sudan. While nobody could have anticipated how badly the situation would develop in the eastern part of the country, there is consensus both inside and outside the country that the tensions in the eastern part of the country must be eased. Let us hope that the US will not bungle the democratic transformation process in Sudan as it has done in Iraq. While it is widely noted that Washington publically focusses on human rights and the democratic process in Sudan, privately officials are equally interested in the development of Sudan's vast oil potential. Indeed, the real interest of the Bush administration in Sudan, as numerous international columnists made clear, is oil. Sudan is perched on a gargantuan lake of fossil fuel. It all sounds promising, but the fact remains that the Sudanese are yet to enjoy peace. Oil and peace in Africa rarely mix. There are invariably complex political tensions in main oil producing parts of the continent. Angola, one of Africa's oil producers, was a battlefield of warring factions for decades. The Niger delta area is similarly a highly volatile region. The goal of Rice should be to foster democracy in Sudan, not score political points. Neither should her primary concern be creaming off profits from Sudan's budding oil industry.
