Washington, DC — "Without a ceasefire there is no need to return to Nairobi," Sudan's Foreign Minister, Dr. Mustapha Osman Ismail, told a small group of reporters, Thursday. "The government is committed to [the] Machakos [agreement]," the foreign minister insisted. "And we will continue, when there is a ceasefire."
The Sudanese government suspended its participation in peace talks at the start of September in protest a resumption of military hostilities by the SPLM/A rebels.
Sudan's government and Southern rebels reached agreement in Machakos, July 20, on a "framework" for peace aimed at ending the 19-year-old civil war in the huge north-east African nation. That deal included agreement on two of the most contentious issues in Sudan: southern self-determination and the status of religion in the state.
After a six-year "interim period", the south will be permitted to vote on self-determination and the government will not oppose autonomy. Nor will the Sharia legal code will be imposed on the South. The government and SPLM/A rebels also agreed that the North-South boundary will be the one Britain established January 1, 1956. "These are major problems that have been solved," said Dr. Mustapha.
The Machakos agreement was welcomed by the United States. "The signing of the Machakos Protocol by the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM/A) is a significant step in moving towards a just and lasting peace," US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said during a State Department news briefing in July. "The interim measure is a strong indication that the parties are both willing and capable of reaching a negotiated settlement to Sudan's civil war," Boucher said.
Power-sharing and the equitable allocation of wealth between north and south, security arrangements and the modalities of a comprehensive ceasefire were all on the agenda for discussion during the second round of talks, sponsored by the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), under the chairmanship of Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi.
The talks were expected to be concluded by mid-September.
But at the end of August, SPLM/A rebel forces attacked and captured the town of Torit, about 132 kilometers east of Juba, Southern Sudan's main city. The rebels said it was a "pre-emptive action", necessary because government forces had been ordered to advance into rebel areas from Torit.
Humilitated by the sudden and successful attack, three days later the Sudanese government suspended its participation in the Machakos peace talks "because of the atmosphere created by the military operations and the occupation of Torit town," said foreign minister Mustapha at the time.
Last week the government began heavy aerial bombardment of the town. "We will teach the rebels a lesson in sacrifice and jihad," Sudanese Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Bekri Hassen Saleh said in a speech just before a battalion of paramilitary troops left Khartoum for Juba.
"Southern Sudan is now smoldering," a government official told the United Nations news agency, IRIN. "People are fighting everywhere, and government troops are also fighting back."
At least 42 people were killed in two days of fighting between government troops and rebels in Western Upper Nile province, rebel spokesman Samson Kwaje said, Wednesday.
"Our analysis," says Dr. Mustapha, is that [SPLM/A leader John] Garang wants to capture more land and cities in the South before signing a peace agreement."
Mustapha declined to comment on whether it would take the military defeat of the SPLA/M to get his government back to the conference table. "It's difficult to pursue fighting and peace," he acknowledged. "That's why the government decided to halt participation at Machakos."
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It is the government's duty to provide national security and to protect the territorial integrity of Sudan, said Mustapha. "This is not the job of the mediators."
Dr. Mustapha, who has met with Secretary of State Colin Powell - the first between foreign ministers from Sudan and the United States in 14 years, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Walter Kansteiner, and other administration officials during his three-day visit to Washington, says he has been told that U.S. mediators in Kenya are talking to rebels leaders, seeking an "equation in which there shall be no fighting and a restarting of the negotiations."
An Igad delegation led by Kenyan special envoy to the Sudan, Lazarus Sumbeiywo, arrived in Sudan, Tuesday, for consultation with government authorities about resuming the Sudanese peace talks.
