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01/21/09
Yes We Can: Together We Can Achieve Peace In Sudan
This message appeared in the Special Obama Inauguration edition of The Washington Times, Jan 20, 2009
Sudan extends its congratulations to President elect Barack Obama, Vice President elect Joe Biden and to the people of the United States on November 4th’s historic elections.
Category: Press
Posted by: admin
Sudan extends its congratulations to President elect Barack Obama, Vice President elect Joe Biden and to the people of the United States on November 4th’s historic elections. The occasion no doubt constitutes one of the transcending events in the corpus of history’s most seismic occurrences whose connotations are immensely profound. Sudan anticipates with high hopes the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, and affirms its readiness to continue working as it has, in full cooperation on matters of mutual concern with the new administration. Achieve.
Sudan and the United States enjoy a long history of friendship and cooperation. It would be superfluous to mention all the instances in which the U.S. has in the past come to the aid of Sudan, but perhaps worth mentioning is the invaluable humanitarian assistance it has in the past been able to deliver during catastrophic periods of famine and drought in the country. Some of the schools in Sudan were built and established with the unreserved support of the American people. These are only a few out of the many gestures that have worked to endear the United States to the People of Sudan. The latest achievement of the U.S. is the peace it helped broker in 2005 that effectively ended the longest running civil war in Africa. It is an accomplishment that has earned the gratitude and strengthened the appreciation of the Sudanese people.
This proud legacy however is now jeopardized by a series of developments that have shaken this positive impression and confidence of the Sudanese People. Not least amongst those is the crisis in Darfur, where U.S. maintains a policy that is in conflict with the aspirations of the people. In this regard, Sudan is hopeful that the incoming administration will conceive a novel approach that compliments and supports the initiatives of the Sudanese in their relentless efforts to resolve the crisis. This situation has evolved quite dramatically since its outbreak in 2004 as multiple entities, both domestic and external, have emerged to identify a stake in the crisis, thereby exacerbating the debacle. To have a realistic chance of stemming the instability, it is critical that any US engagement is fully cognizant of and strives to rectify all these competing interests.
The Government of Sudan has consistently called for this all-inclusive dialogue, and its latest efforts culminated in what became the “Sudan People’s Initiative”, which in essence was to serve as a platform that would adopt a national consensus towards comprehensively and holistically addressing the situation. Sheer intractability from the rebels and narrow individual ambitions, however, prevailed as they always have, over the urgent need to put an end to the suffering. Tremendous efforts exerted and numerous initiatives proposed have inevitably succumbed to the same vices to the point where the very principle upon which the Darfuri opposition first picked up arms has been severely undermined.
One invariably notices an allegiance primarily pledged to all but the very people on whose behalf they claim to represent. The people of Darfur themselves have long been disillusioned about the intentions of the rebels and no longer identify themselves with their objectives. The numerous crimes that were perpetrated against the AU-UN forces, the attacks on innocent civilians and cities that left scores dead have catalyzed this disenchantment. And the absence of any serious condemnation coming from the international community of these criminal acts is a fact that has only emboldened the rebels. And the silence of the U.S. over the ill-considered motion made by the International Criminal Court’s Prosecutor to indict and seek an arrest warrant against President al-Bashir is yet another factor that is unequivocally interpreted by the rebels as tolerance to their atrocities committed daily against the innocent civilians. There is never the strong condemnation and meaningful punitive measures that should meet such heinous acts.
It is also unfortunate that despite tremendous progress made by Sudan to stem the crisis at its own initiative and through cooperation with the United Nations and other regional organizations as documented by the UN Secretary General’s unilateral report to the Security Council, still the detrimental policy of imposing sanctions is perpetuated. Sudan remains steadfast in its pursuit of solutions to the outstanding issues facing the country. It is a matter of record that in addition to a number of things, the country has met its obligations with regards to facilitating the full deployment of the hybrid force and has provided unrestricted access to the vital humanitarian work.
There is considerable weight that the rebels accord the posture of the U.S. government, and the latter’s constructive engagement is indispensable in bringing an end to the suffering. To arbitrarily maintain sanctions on one party and exempt the other not only sends the wrong signal to the rebels, but it also undermines the positive efforts and indeed obstruct progress thus far made by the Sudanese. Such double standard policies are increasingly threatening to erode the esteemed image of the United States, a development that is highly unwanted at a time when the country is trying to regain its prominent role in the world.
It is our wish that relations between the two sovereign countries be normalized so that we can move forward in cooperation to address the many issues that are of mutual concern. The benefits are there for all to see. The partnership on the war on terror where Sudan has and continues to invest immense amount of resources is one such example. The State Department in its last “Country Reports on Terrorism” affirmed and praised the partnership in the quest to eradicate terrorism. All of this highlights the gains of good cooperation and makes a strong case for reassessing bilateral relations. The people of Sudan are hopeful that the new administration will see the wisdom in doing so.