22 November 2004

U.S. Focus on Sudan Helps Push Peace Process, Policy Expert Says, November 22, 2004

(Both sides must seize opportunity Naivasha Accord offers, Crocker says)

By Jim Fisher-Thompson
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Sudan's 20-year civil war, in which 2 million people have died, is "on the verge" of resolution in part because the Bush administration raised the crisis to a top spot on its foreign policy agenda, says former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Chester Crocker.

Crocker appeared on a November 19 panel sponsored by the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) that weighed policy options for the crisis in Sudan. The former State Department official, who chaired the USIP board of directors for 10 years, is currently a professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.

The scholar/diplomat was speaking the same day the Khartoum government signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Nairobi, Kenya, with its main rebel opposition, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). The MOU commits both sides to completing a final peace agreement by December 31. The principal Sudanese negotiations, or North-South talks, have been ongoing in Naivasha, Kenya, for the past two years.

"We're in a very unique situation as we talk about Sudan today," Crocker told the USIP panel of experts, which included Brookings Institution scholar Francis Deng and former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission Richard Williamson. "No previous U.S. administration has put Sudan on the front [stove] burner as this one has.

"This has made a terrific difference," he said, "in terms of both the domestic politics of the issue [congressional interest] but also the level of leadership that has focused on the Sudan case. The fact that our U.N. ambassador [John Danforth] started out in this phase of his public service career two years ago as special envoy to Sudan is not insignificant."

The focus on Sudan is also coming directly out of "the Oval Office," Crocker told the panel. "President Bush spoke on the phone to [Sudanese President Omar] Bashir and [SPLM head John] Garang two and a half days ago." And an American president speaking by phone to African leaders and heads of state "does not happen on a daily basis," the former diplomat added.

On the "downside," Crocker pointed out, "it's not always easy conducting foreign policy in a fishbowl with high-level White House interest -- something to which I can personally testify." In the middle 1980s the former diplomat sought to implement the controversial Reagan policy of "constructive engagement" toward apartheid-era South Africa. The policy ran into fierce opposition from many Americans -- including a majority of Congress -- who believed economic sanctions and official disengagement would act as a greater spur to get South Africa to end its policy of racial separation and black disenfranchisement.

As for the chance that a final North-South agreement will be reached before the December 31 deadline, Crocker said: "The peacemaking process has gotten quite close to breaking the North-South stalemate. The possibilities for getting across the goal line to a comprehensive peace ... are real, and I think the situation is about as dynamic as it's ever been."

He said: "They [Khartoum and SPLM] signed an MOU committing themselves to completing the implementing protocols [worked out in Naivasha] and the comprehensive cease-fire by December 31. This sounds like a pretty serious commitment.

"There's a recognition and sobriety factor settling in amongst some of the key leaders that they better make some real decisions now," Crocker added. "Trying to outmaneuver the other side to grab the [policy] high ground and blame others for the lack of progress" will no longer work. "In other words, ‘the clay is wet' and there is a possibility to do something [to bring lasting peace] at this juncture."

Finally, Crocker addressed the emotion surrounding Darfur, where both the United States and the United Nations have charged the Khartoum government with genocide. "There is a lot of passion about Sudan ... and passion is a great thing. But passion when it's connected to a brain is even a greater thing.

"What we have to figure out is how to connect the passion as best we can to the brain. We have to stop the killing -- but the way to stop the killing is to make peace. The way to make peace is to start with this very strong foundation that exists at the North-South level and use it as the leverage to broaden and transform it into a comprehensive, nationwide peace."