US presidential envoy highlights constructive dialogue with Khartoum

June 17, 2009 (WASHINGTON) – The US Special Envoy to Sudan today defended his approach of “constructive dialogue” with the Sudanese government and other parties, highlighting a new intensity of engagement but not emphasizing any break from Bush-era Sudan policies. The diplomat was speaking at a briefing at the State Department in Washington, D.C.

Asked whether the policy he is pursuing demonstrates continuity from the last administration, Mr. Scott Gration commented that “What we’re doing is making sure that we are value-added to the situation. And so there’s things that the last administration were doing that we’re continuing, and there’s also things that are new.”

He was asked twice about continuity or change from the previous administration’s approach, but replied generally about current US concerns rather than methods, and declined to distinguish anything specifically different.

Mr. Gration’s style discards some of the discordant rhetoric used by officials of both the Bush and Obama administrations, openly embracing the long-established tactical partnership between the United States and Sudan, which is grounded in counter-terrorism cooperation.

Like Bush administration officials Robert Zoellick and Andrew Natsios, the Obama appointee in his time does not characterize the situation in Darfur as genocide. “What we see is the remnants of genocide. What we see are the consequences of genocide, the results of genocide,” the envoy said.

He has moved forward with steps toward normalization of diplomatic relations, an approach pushed by some during the Bush administration, and reflected in a largely symbolic order authorized last week by a Bush administration appointee, Treasury Department official Adam Szubin, to slightly relax a measure in the US sanctions regime against Sudan.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Deng Alor told the parliament on Monday that he expects easing of US economic sanctions and removal from the list of states that sponsor terrorism.

US policy toward Sudan was ordered to undergo review after the 2008 US election. Though a State Department official told Sudan Tribune on April 29 that the administration’s policy review was “expected to conclude in the near future,” the plan stemming from that process is yet to be approved by the White House, where it was debated last week but not presented to President Obama.

The Special Envoy position is not accorded access to the counter-terrorism information flow from US-Sudanese intelligence sharing, according to remarks last September by then-US Envoy Ambassador Richard Williamson.

CIA’s cooperation with the Sudanese intelligence apparatus grew in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. The partnership won the praise of Senator Johnny Isakson last month in a piece in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution after he and Senator Bob Corker were hosted by intelligence chief Salah Abdallah Gosh.

US envoys to Sudan manage the bilateral relationship within the framework of the existing counter-terrorism partnership.

Mr. Gration today said that the administration’s dialogue with the Government of Sudan has yielded some positive results. For instance, he pointed to the survival of the humanitarian relief operation in Darfur after the expulsion of 13 foreign aid groups in March.

US pressure has failed to reverse that order; but after further discussions it emerged that new international aid groups are being granted licenses to operate.

The diplomat also pointed out that the engagement policy allows the US to act as a mediator in the Darfur conflict: “The constructive dialogue will also help us negotiate a ceasefire in Darfur so that the people living in IDP camps and refugee camps have the opportunity to move back to a place of their own choosing and to be able to live in safety and security and dignity.”

Similarly, he envisions that the closer US-Sudan relationship will help to facilitate the implementation of the peace deal between the former rebel SPLM and the Government of Sudan. Hosting a conference this month in Washington, the administration will act as interlocutor much as it did for the Naivasha negotiations, except with the focus on implementing an existing agreement rather than forging a new one.

“What we want to do is get results. What we cannot tolerate is the continuing lack of human rights that we’re seeing, the lack of conditions that we want those people to live in. And so what we’re doing is taking a look at all the elements of national power that we can bring to bear to get results to change that situation, so that the people in Sudan have a brighter future, have more stability, more security, dignity, and human rights,” said the US Special Envoy.

(ST)