The Sudanese government and the chief armed opposition group have signed six peace protocols, but the task of national reconciliation and reconstruction has barely begun. Gamal Nkrumah reports On Saturday, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki officiated at the signing of six protocols by Sudanese Vice President Ali Othman Mohamed Taha, representing the Sudanese government, and Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) leader John Garang. The SPLA and the Sudanese government are radically different in political outlook and ideological orientation. The SPLA is a secular southern Sudanese-based movement, while the Sudanese government is Islamist in orientation. This polarisation resonates through more than 50 years of disagreement over how the political future of the country is to be determined. The Sudanese government, while conceding to a limited political role for northern-based political groups, has insisted that the north -- including the national capital Khartoum -- remain under the rigid control of Sharia law and an Islamist-oriented political system. But in Nairobi, these profound ideological discrepancies were plastered over. Taha and Garang signed a joint declaration in the final phase of Sudanese peace talks. Sudan's neighbours applauded the signing of the six protocols, expressing the hope that the Sudanese protagonists will take the final step to end the 21-year-old civil war that has ripped the country apart, ruined the Sudanese economy, cost the lives of two million people and caused untold suffering among the population, especially in the south of the country. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak dispatched Prime Minister Atef Ebeid to Khartoum to personally convey the president's felicitations to his Sudanese counterpart Omar Hassan Al-Beshir. Mubarak applauded "the spirit of national reconciliation" exhibited by the Sudanese and expressed the hope that Sudan would maintain its unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity. Mubarak also hoped that the dividends of peace soon materialise. Political stability in Sudan will have positive repercussions on the entire region, he stressed. He reiterated Egypt's determination to stand by Sudan politically and economically. Egypt, he said, fully supports the Sudanese national reconstruction effort. In the message conveyed to Al-Beshir by Ebeid, Mubarak said that Egypt would collaborate closely with the Sudanese government to fulfil the aspirations of the Sudanese people in their quest for peace and prosperity. In Nairobi, Egypt was represented by Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher. Secretary-General of the Arab League Amr Moussa also attended the signing ceremony. Arab countries have expressed a keen interest in funding development projects in southern Sudan. The ceremony marking the final phase of the negotiations was also attended by a coterie of international dignitaries, including Acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Charles Snyder, representing the United States. Washington has been the main driving force behind the Sudanese peace process. By bringing the right array of incentives to bear, the US -- in conjunction with European Union countries, Switzerland and Norway -- has pressured the Sudanese government and the SPLA into signing the protocols and pledging to work on a final and comprehensive peace deal. Arm-twisting tactics were applied, as were incentives that the Sudanese found difficult to resist. Sudan produces 300,000 barrels of crude oil a day, earning $3 billion annually in oil revenue. The country is poised to increase production to 500,000 barrels by 2005. Donors and possible investors are acutely conscious of the economic potential of Sudan as an oil-fuelled economy with great agricultural potential. Still the task of economic recovery is daunting, as the country is one of the poorest in the world. As Garang recently pointed out, southern Sudan covers an area larger than Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi put together, but it has not had a tarmac road ever. At the ceremony, Garang outlined the tasks ahead, chief of which was developing the infrastructure of southern Sudan. The signing of six protocols, he said, "represents a solemn declaration on our part that war in Sudan is truly coming to an end". Taha concurred, saying: "This is a historic moment for the people of Sudan." The peace talks have been taking place under the auspices of the Inter- Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD), a regional organisation which groups seven East African countries, including Sudan. The Sudanese vice president embarked on a two-day visit to Egypt yesterday. Taha is expected to brief Mubarak on the different aspects of the six protocols. Taha met with both Egyptian officials and leading members of Sudanese opposition groups, including those of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the umbrella opposition organisation grouping the SPLA. Many Sudanese opposition leaders are Cairo-based. Among them is Farouk Abu Eissa, former head of the Cairo-based Arab Lawyers Union and official spokesman for the NDA. Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly about his meeting with Taha, Abu Eissa said: "We touched upon a wide range of topics, but in my conversation with Taha I stressed that democracy is the only answer to Sudan's pressing problems. We need to speed up the democratisation process and include the different political forces in the decision-making process." He expressed cautious optimism about Sudan's political future. He said that once the democratisation process gets underway and the principles agreed upon in the Machakos and Naivasha protocols are scrupulously adhered to and thoroughly implemented, the political fate of Sudan will improve. SPLA leader Garang is also scheduled to visit Egypt next week to meet with Mubarak and others for consultations with other political forces of the NDA. Both Taha and Garang will discuss the situation in Darfur with Egyptian officials and members of the Sudanese opposition parties. The most powerful armed opposition group in Darfur, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) -- not to be confused with the southern-based Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), headed by John Garang -- is represented in the NDA. The SLA also has a close working relationship with the SPLA. Meanwhile, the situation in Darfur remains very tense. "The crisis in Darfur continues to cause appalling suffering that demands a concerted international response," warned United Nations Secretary- General Kofi Annan. "Generations of Sudanese men, women and children have known nothing but the destruction, displacement and death inflicted by perennial war," Annan said. On 6 June, 16 humanitarian aid workers detained by the SLA were released. Still, the UN and humanitarian relief organisations are alarmed at the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Darfur. Hundreds of thousands were rendered homeless with the escalation of the violence earlier in the year. Amnesty International estimates that two million people are now internally displaced, and a million have fled across the border into Chad where they live as refugees. And the SLA is the main force opposing the Sudanese government in Darfur, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) has also put up strong-armed opposition to the Sudanese government in the western province. Significantly, JEM has not signed a truce or begun talks with the government and is reputed to be closely linked to Sudan's imprisoned chief Islamist ideologue Hassan Al-Turabi's Popular National Congress, and is Islamist in its orientation. The NDA believes that the Sudanese political reform and democratisation process must take into account the interests of all marginalised groups, including those of the western Sudanese people. Organisations like JEM and SLA must be incorporated into the peace process, Sudanese opposition forces maintain. Peace in Sudan is not only dependent on a peace deal between the Sudanese government and the SPLA, but a comprehensive settlement incorporating the JEM and the SLA.
