NCP’s diplomatic gaffe in Sudan, who foots the bill?
By Peter Lokarlo Marsu
October 28, 2006 — Every passing day exhibits an incessant pattern of diplomatic blunders in Sudan. In this month alone, it all began by Sudan declaring the UN Special representative in the country, Mr. Jan Pronk, persona non grata. A move seen by many concerned circles as diplomatic disaster for Sudan, committed by the National Congress Party (NCP) in its 17-year bloody reign in the country. Mordantly, it was not Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs that initially used the phrase, persona non grata, amusingly; it was the military that did pass the edict. The army issued a decree of expulsion that paved the way for the exit of the UN special Representative, Jan Pronk from Sudan.
To the outsiders who are not familiar with Sudan’s dispensation of diplomatic protocols, might raise eyebrows and wonder as to why the Army declared Mr. Jan Pronk an unwanted person in Sudan. To anyone accustomed to lore of how the country is being governed would not bother, as it could have as well been possible for the Ministry of Agriculture or Wildlife and Fisheries to expel the UN Special Representative or any other diplomat in the country and that would still be fine. The elemental concern is not the diplomatic faux pas that is admittedly an established and entrenched trajectory in the country, it is the cost of unceremoniously ushering out such an important diplomat as Jan Pronk from a nation bedevilled by unprecedented mayhem in Africa.
Mr. Jan Pronk is needed to assist Sudan out of the current imbroglio. The country needs a robust UN force in Darfur backed by the strong will and determination of the international community to quell the relentless violence that shows no signs of halting in that part of the country. It has often been misguidedly observed that negotiations with the government in Khartoum would eventually see UN contingents in Darfur; this is palaeolithic perception; and regrettably, an aggregate wishful thinking that simply can’t work. The UN has always demonstrated fecklessness that resolves to deal with Sudan’s rulers, especially when Khartoum orders its army and militia in South Sudan to carry out murders of innocent citizens, particularly around the Capital City of Juba as recently substantiated by the arrest of the 14 regular soldiers involved in the massacre of over 38 people around Juba. The Poor Sudanese citizens have no choice but to foot the bill of the disgusting and catastrophic performances of the NCP at the helm of the nation.
In its dire succession of diplomatic blunders, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sudan charged president Museveni and the government of South Sudan of undermining the standard etiquette of diplomacy. In his capacity as the official spokesman in the ministry, Ali al-Sadek issued a tough statement condemning the visit, calling it a “diplomatic breach”. Juba and Kampala were swift in their response, revealing the fallacy of the charge. The truth is that the Ugandan ambassador to Sudan had earlier informed Omar Al Bashir about the visit. There are two possible scenarios to muse: either the ministry of foreign affairs was inclined to make a diplomatic fuss over the issue in order to castigate the government of South Sudan, given khartoum’s disapproval of Juba asserting its CPA’s birth rights of being autonomous or the NCP was testing the resolve of the Government of South Sudan in matters pertaining to international relations. Wherever the accurate interpretation may be positioned, Sudan has committed diplomatic gaffe etched in indelible ink on the face of the country until Omar Al Bashir and Company are out of power in Sudan.
*The author is a Sudanese based in Australia. He can be reached at [email protected]