The world decides to give Sudan more breathing space even as Khartoum cracks down on opposition forces, writes Gamal Nkrumah There could not be a more powerful symbol to underline the deepening chasm that divides North from South than the conflicting perspectives regarding the crisis in Darfur. While the rich countries are rearing for a showdown, and seem determined to put Sudan definitively in its place, the developing world is adopting a more conciliatory, perhaps even unabashedly protective, position. On Tuesday the United States presented a new draft resolution on Darfur to the United Nations Security Council. This new text includes a barely veiled threat of sanctions if Khartoum should fail to disarm the pro- government Arabised militias, better known collectively as the Janjaweed. Concurrently, US politicians are urging the Bush administration "to take real action", as one US Congressman ominously put it. US Secretary of State Colin Powell did not mince his words either, describing the events in Darfur as "genocide". The Sudanese government, Powell said, has "committed large-scale acts of violence, including murders, rape and physical assaults on non-Arab individuals". Powell was referring to a report released by the US State Department last week, based on 1,136 interviews with displaced people from Darfur. "I hope that they [i.e. the Sudanese government] need to get out of a situation they find themselves in," he added. At the UN, international power politics was once again on full view as nations jockeyed for position on the Darfur crisis. China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council with veto powers, had hinted that it would veto the resolution if it contained any direct references to sanctions against Sudan. China has extensive trade and economic relations with Sudan, and is one of the largest investors in the Sudanese economy, with a special interest in the booming oil sector. Algeria and Pakistan, two non-permanent UN Security Council members, are also opposed to international sanctions against Sudan, and in particular to a trade embargo. Egypt, too, along with the vast majority of Arab states, is against the use of sanctions, which it believes will hurt the Sudanese people rather than the Sudanese government. At the same time, Egypt continues to back regional and international endeavours to end the crisis in Sudan's war- torn province. In Alexandria this week, President Hosni Mubarak reiterated Egypt's unconditional endorsement of the Sudanese government's efforts to return Darfur to some semblance of normalcy. Mubarak also said that Egypt welcomed the attempts by the African Union (AU) to resolve the crisis in Darfur. But in spite of international efforts to bring peace on the ground, the war in Darfur rages on, even as the government launched a political clampdown against opposition groups throughout the country. Meanwhile, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the two most powerful armed opposition groups in Darfur, are threatening to pull out of the stalled negotiations being held in Abuja, Nigeria, and the Sudanese government has warned that the talks are in danger of collapsing altogether. Inside Sudan itself, a political crisis is brewing. On Friday, the Sudanese authorities arrested Brigadier Mohamed Al-Amin Khalifa, a member of the Revolutionary Command Council that was formed following the bloodless coup d'état that brought Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Beshir to power. Hussein Khojali, editor of the opposition daily Alwan, was also arrested. Meanwhile, the leader of the opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP) Hassan Al-Turabi was transferred to the notorious Cooper Prison. Siddig, Al-Turabi's son, was also detained on Monday. Scores of PCP officials now languish in Sudanese jails, arrested for their involvement in an alleged coup plot. "The authorities are lying!" Wisal Al-Mahdi, wife of Hassan Al-Turabi, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "They are making it all up, to distract public attention from the humiliating predicament that they find themselves in over Darfur." Al-Mahdi is currently in London lobbying for support for her incarcerated husband, whom the Sudanese authorities say has been fomenting trouble in Darfur. In an ironic twist of fate, Al-Mahdi, a direct descendent of the leader of the legendary 1880s uprising against British colonial rule, has been meeting with both Amnesty International personnel and British Foreign Office officials while in London. When in power, Al-Turabi was accused by Amnesty International and other watchdog groups of masterminding gross human rights violations. Al-Turabi is a former speaker of the Sudanese parliament, and founder of the now defunct National Islamic Front, which governed Sudan in the 1980s. Wisal Al-Mahdi also vigorously denied that her husband and his party had been involved in any coup attempt. "This is a flippant excuse," she told the Weekly. "They just wanted to lock him up. The government conjured up these lies because they fear my husband's popularity and political acumen." The Sudanese government is accusing the PCP of instigating the violence in Darfur and of aiding and abetting JEM, a claim leaders of the Darfur-based opposition group hotly deny. Al-Mahdi also accused the regime of sowing the seeds of tribalism and ethnic conflict in Sudan. "The two main Arab ethnic groups that are buttressing the regime in Khartoum and reaping the rewards are the Jaialiyin, Al- Beshir's people, and the Shaagiya, the Vice President Ali Othman Mohamed Taha's people." "Members of these two groups now wield tremendous power and influence in the country. They are also very wealthy and repressive," she said. Wisal Al-Mahdi said that she visited Darfur Jebel Marra with her husband in 1996 during a political campaign. "My husband has many followers in Darfur, and the government knows that." She denied that her husband worked with the Janjaweed, adding that it was the government that has committed "heinous acts of rape and murder in Darfur". This charge is supported by humanitarian agencies and Western powers. Sudanese government officials, however, deny any responsibility. "We don't think this kind of attitude can help the situation in Darfur," Sudanese Minister Najeeb Al-Khair Abdul-Wahed told reporters in Abuja. "We expect the international community to assist the process that is taking place in Abuja, and not pour oil on the fire." "We believe that the positive developments that have taken place in Darfur have surprised the enemies of Sudan," Abdul-Wahed added. "That is why they are trying to impede these efforts which will lead to the realisation of peace, security and stability in Darfur." In Cairo, Sudanese Foreign Affairs Minister Mustafa Othman Ismail told reporters that the threat of sanctions would do nothing to help alleviate the humanitarian situation in Darfur. (see p.7)
