Darfur advocacy group criticize US-Sudan negotiations to normalize ties

April 20, 2008 (WASHINGTON) — A powerful Darfur advocacy group in the US issued a strong worded statement criticizing a move by the Bush administration to negotiate normalizing ties with the Sudanese government.

“Darfur activists around the world were at-once stunned, confused and outraged by this report on the content of the U.S.-Sudan negotiations. It is so at odds with President Bush’s rhetoric on Sudan as to be simply unbelievable” said Jerry Fowler, president of the Save Darfur coalition.

“Special Envoy Williamson should clarify the administration’s views on Sudan when he appears before the Senate next week” Fowler added.

Save Darfur Coalition is a coalition of over 160 faith-based, humanitarian, and human rights organizations dedicated to ending what they believe is genocide in the western Sudanese region of Darfur.

Last week the New York Times (NYT) obtained a series of documents exchanged between the Washington and Khartoum on a series of steps to normalize relations between the two countries. The documents were leaked by an unidentified US official described as being “critical of the administration’s position”.

The report said that the Bush administration could remove Sudan from an American list of state supporters of terrorism and normalize relations if the Sudanese government agreed, among other steps, to allow Thai and Nepalese peacekeepers as part of the peacekeeping force.

The newly appointed US special envoy to Sudan Richard Williamson met in Rome last week with a high level Sudanese delegation to discuss normalization of ties. The meeting adjourned late Friday and will be resumed “within a month” according to Sudan official news agency (SUNA).

Fowler said in a statement that “normalizing ties with Sudan should be very far off, particularly given that Secretary-General Ban just this week issued a dire report on the continued violence in Darfur and Sudan’s blocking of the UNAMID civilian protection force”.

“Khartoum sets the gold standard for breaking international promises which is why previous discussions of normalization have foundered” he added.

The leakage of the documents by the NYT may complicate the new US initiative and place the Bush administration under extreme pressure from US lawmakers and lobby groups to scrap it.

The US envoy will appear before the Senate Foreign relations committee headed by Senator Joe Biden next Wednesday to discuss the Darfur crisis. It is expected that Williamson will come under fire from the Senators to justify the latest move by the US administration to normalize ties with Khartoum despite the lack of progress on Darfur crisis.

Exactly a year ago the former US special envoy to Sudan Andrew Natsios appeared before the committee in a hearing that featured an angry exchange between him and Senator Robert Menendez.

The senator and the special envoy argued back and forth in loud voices, each repeatedly interrupting the other. Other US lawmakers at the hearing lashed out at the administration for delaying sanctions on Sudan.

International experts estimate some 200,000 have died and over 2 million have been driven from their homes during 4-1/2 years of fighting in Darfur. Sudan puts the death toll from the conflict at just 9,000.

(ST)