Posted on 09/10/2001 11:51:05 PM PDT by Fitzcarraldo
KHARTOUM, Sept 6 (AFP) -
The Sudanese government cautiously welcomed Thursday news that the United States will unveil an initiative of its own to end Sudan's 18-year civil war.
The state-run Al-Anbaa daily quoted an official as greeting any US plan to reconcile the Islamist government here with southern rebels and northern factions "on condition that such an initiative be based on neutrality."
The Sudanese government has complained in the past that Washington, which has denounced Khartoum as a sponsor of terrorism, has sided with the animist and Christian rebels seeking autonomy for the south.
Following African peace moves, as well as an Arab initiative that has gained momentum in recent months, US officials said Wednesday their government was preparing a plan of its own to bring peace to Sudan.
The plan, to include up to 30 million dollars in humanitarian and relief aid, is to be led by former US senator John Danforth, whom the officials said would be named Thursday as Washington's key official on Sudan.
Khartoum's foreign minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail, said the nomination of a US peace envoy to Sudan "will mark a new chapter in US-Sudanese relations, which we hope will help put an end to the war and re-establish peace."
The appointment "is unquestionably supported from our side," Ismail added late Wednesday.
The Los Angeles Times, which was first to report the US peace drive, quoted US officials as saying there may be large oil reserves in southern Sudan, and that President Omar al-Beshir is being pressured by both oil companies and foreign governments to negotiate peace.
The oil companies, such as Talisman of Canada, have faced threats of attacks from rebels as well as demands to pull out of Sudan from human rights and other campaigners accusing them of helping Khartoum fund a vicious war.
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) in Cairo also gave a cautious welcome to the news of a US plan.
Jurkuch Barach, the SPLM/A representative to Arab countries, said if the United States leads peace efforts, "there can be a move forward ... because they are the only power we have in the world."
But Barach indicated that details of the US initiative were still unknown and it was not clear if it would harmonize the elements of the other African and Arab peace initiatives, as the SPLA wants.
A 1993 initiative by the east African IGAD sponsors talks only between Khartoum and the SPLM/A, while an Egyptian-Libyan plan calls for reconciliation between Khartoum and both the southern and northern opposition.
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) initiative includes calls for self-determination for the south, while the Egyptian-Libyan peace plan skirts the issue.
The main stumbling block in any peace negotiations is southern demands for a separation of religion from politics, which the Islamist government is reluctant to accept.
Meanwhile, there were signs that the United States was ready to end the isolation of the Khartoum government.
The UN Security Council plans to lift its five-year-old sanctions on Sudan this month with the agreement of the United States, council president Jean-David Levitte of France said Wednesday in New York.
The Security Council imposed diplomatic sanctions on Sudan on April 26, 1996, in an effort to force it to extradite three people suspected of trying to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak the previous year.
Last year, Ismail wrote to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan saying official inquiries had shown that "no trace has been found of the three suspects in the Sudan."
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