Sudan featured prominently on the fringes of the NEPAD summit, reports Gamal Nkrumah This week, African heads of state and government meeting for the 13th NEPAD summit in Sharm El- Sheikh expressed solidarity with the Sudanese government, re-iterating that the destiny of the African continent, including that of sovereign nations like Sudan, must remain in African hands. President Hosni Mubarak held special Sudan meetings both before and after the NEPAD summit. The Sudanese government has come under intense pressure from the United Nations and Western powers, especially the United States to bring perpetuators of human rights abuses in Darfur to book. The Sudanese authorities are being accused of digging into its multi-million dollar war chest to buy advanced weaponry such as ground-to-air missiles for deployment in the near future. Khartoum, on the other hand, wants Washington to play a more even- handed role in the Sudanese conflict. Before the summit's procedures commenced, Mubarak held a tripartite meeting with Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Beshir and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zennawi. At the end of the summit, the trio were joined by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, current chairman of the African Union. The four leaders met for a closed brainstorming session on Sudan. Sudan has enormous economic potential, yet southern Sudan is the poorest region in Africa. Last week, donor nations met in Norway to review the best way to fund the reconstruction of war-torn southern Sudan. And, in an unprecedented development, donors pledged $2.6 billion in aid to southern Sudan. In the meantime, the Sudanese authorities announced this week that drilling for oil in Sudan's war-torn Darfur province had commenced. Darfur is among the Sudanese regions most endowed with sizeable commercial quantities of oil. Sudan began exporting oil in 1998 and exports around 300,000 barrels a day, which is set to rise to 500,000 barrels by August. Most of Sudan's oil is produced in conflict zones, and oil has emerged as a main reason behind wars in the country. The Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and the Sudanese government signed a peace agreement in January laying the foundations for power and wealth-sharing mechanisms. Wealth-sharing is a signal that the two parties are looking beyond their past differences in an effort to create a shared vision of a peaceful and democratic Sudan. The war has brought utter devastation to southern Sudan. The January agreement gives the war-torn region its best possible chance of peace since Sudan gained independence from Britain in 1956. Nonetheless the Sudanese peace process is still at a very early stage. Southern Sudanese factions, in particular those who operated in Sudanese government-controlled areas of southern Sudan during the 20-year long war, are currently meeting with SPLA representatives in Kenya to iron out their differences. The atmospherics are certainly better, but there is no simple formula that will forge a common and lasting agreement. Both the SPLA and the Sudanese government are expected to be more accountable to the people of southern Sudan. To help sustain the successful implementation of the January agreement, there must be the broadest possible participation by the civil society organisations of southern Sudan. Donors and the UN have insisted that these organisations confer any legitimacy on any agreement. While the situation in southern Sudan is stabilising, the war in Darfur is far from over. Reaching agreement in Darfur could still be some distance away, but there is now a flicker of hope and opportunity. Obasanjo has taken a special interest in resolving the crisis in Darfur. It is important, however, that potential disagreements over details do not derail progress in the overall talks. The Darfur peace talks, Obasanjo notes, must be centred more closely around the democratic options. The grievances and suggestions of civil society and grassroots organisations are to be taken into account. Certainly, the time is ripe for a solution in Darfur. The UN Security Council has passed three resolutions on Sudan -- two of which are designed to end the Darfur crisis. War weary, the people of Sudan want peace, and the Sudanese government and the armed opposition groups of Darfur risk losing the hearts and minds of the people of Darfur if the conflict causes even more suffering. Nonetheless, there will be many ups and downs to come and spoilers will emerge who will try to impede progress and who will not be easily deterred. The authorities in Khartoum should also look to their own governance to ensure it will stand up to scrutiny. If Sudan is serious about advancing peace, it must try to improve its tarnished image at international forums. Amnesty insists that the Sudanese government continues today to breach its human rights obligations. The UN and African Union have both condemned a village rampage by militiamen in Sudan's Darfur region. International human rights groups have stepped up the criticism of Khartoum. After attending the Sudan Civil Society Forum in Oslo, Amnesty International called on donors at the Norway meeting on Sudan to make sure that it is the people and civil society of Sudan who benefit from the $2.6 billion asked for in a Joint Assessment Mission report, by setting clear benchmarks, evaluation and control for everything offered to Sudan. Last month, dozens of Umma Party supporters were arrested in Khartoum for attempting to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the demonstrations, which brought in democracy in 1985. Young people were severely beaten and two Umma Party activists remain in incommunicado detention, Sadig Al- Mahdi, the leader of the Umma Party told reporters in Cairo on the eve of the NEPAD summit. Amnesty International recommended that donors fund an independent Human Rights Commission, commissions for gender and equality, a comprehensive restructuring of the security services and strong justice and accountability mechanisms, to address the discrimination and injustice which has fuelled wars in the south and other parts of Sudan. However, Amnesty International was also critical of the SPLA. The organisation said the SPLA in southern Sudan is equally unaccountable. While in the north, an active civil society, together with vibrant press, have often pushed the limits of the tight boundaries of expression allowed to them, civil society organisations in the SPLM areas, after years of conflict and devastation, are in need of protection from violence and suffer from a lack of infrastructure and media. While insisting on respect for Sudanese territorial integrity and national sovereignty, the African leaders gathered in Sharm El-Sheikh for the NEPAD meeting urged Sudan to adopt a conducive human rights environment. This, along with capacity- building for Sudanese civil society are the best investment donors can make for durable peace.
