Washington, DC — Both the Khartoum government and SPLA rebels are willing to talk peace, but they won't sit down at the table unless the United States brings them together and supervises peace talks, Sudan Foreign Minister Dr. Mustafa Osman Ismail told allAfrica.com.
"We have said to the Bush administration that they should supervise and manage peace talks if they want them to happen. We are willing."
Osman came to the United States last week to participate in the annual Congressional Prayer Breakfast and to hold talks with US officials. "It is my first official visit to the United States," said Osman who says that the truce in the Nuba Mountains negotiated by U.S. special envoy John Danforth is holding. He has met with members of Congress and with Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Walter Kansteiner.
Asked whether the Bush administration was committed to supervising peace talks, Osman would only say he's made Sudan's position clear to the administration: "I am now waiting for their answer."
Sudan - U.S. relations, though not perfect, are improving, Osman said, although the Khartoum government has sharply criticised a US decision to allocate $10m dollars to the National Democratic Alliance, which groups the rebel SPLA with mostly Arab and Muslim northern opposition parties.
Since September 11, Sudan and the United States have been sharing intelligence. But despite that, President Bush extended US sanctions on Sudan by one year, citing "continuing concern" about Khartoum's record on terrorism and human rights.
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On Tuesday, the State Department denounced a Sudanese government air raid on a World Food Program depot in Bahr al-Ghazal, southern Sudan,Saturday, which killed two children. "This horrific and senseless attack indicates that the pattern of deliberately targeting civilians and humanitarian operations continues," said State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher.
The Sudanese government has since expressed "profound regrets" for the bombing and said it was a deplorable mistake, the result of a technical error and not a premeditated act.
Sudan's government has responded to Senator Danforth's proposal to end aerial bombardment of civilians with a counter-proposal that there should be an end to the targeting of civilians in any way at all. "Of course we don't deliberately target civilians," says Osman.
Osman offered no predictions on when the end might come to Sudan's 18-year conflict which has resulted in an estimated 2m people killed and another 4m displaced; but he says he thinks that the chances of peace are greater than they've ever been. "For the first time I am optimistic; I think I can see some light at the end of the tunnel."
One sign of that progress is that Jimmy Carter will go to Sudan early next month to observe inauguration of the Danforth-proposed "tranquility zones".
