US & Sudan move to resume bilateral talks on normalization
August 12, 2008 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government and the US administration reached a preliminary agreement on resuming normalization talks that were suspended last June.
Williamson met with the Sudanese presidential adviser Mustafa Ismail and the foreign minister Deng Alor.
Ismail said that both sides discussed setting a new date for the normalization talks. Williamson was quoted as saying that he would convey the outcome of his visit to Darfur and the North-South border area of Abyei before a new date is set.
The US special envoy angrily left Khartoum in June and declared that normalization dialogue with the Sudanese government has been suspended over failing to bridge differences between the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) over the oil rich region of Abyei.
But the US envoy today sounded optimistic on achieving progress on deploying more peacekeepers to Darfur.
UN Security Council adopted resolution 1769 on July 31st which authorized a hybrid UN-AU force (UNAMID) consisting of 26,000 troops and police but so far it only has only 9,000 personnel.
However the deployment was impeded by Khartoum’s objections to the composition of the force and lack of helicopters. The UN has for months been seeking 6 attack and 18 transport helicopters to support the force with no success.
“Unfortunately performance has not been acceptable to date, Williamson told reporters in Khartoum. “Unfortunately the responsibility rests both here in Sudan and also with the UN” he said.
“But we have reasons to be encouraged and hopeful that the pace of the past will be reversed and we will see substantially more UNAMID peacekeepers here to help the people of Darfur in the near future” he said.
Williamson also said that peace efforts may get a fresh push in light of appointing the new mediator Djibril Bassole.
“I think the developments in 2008, from a variety of sources, have brought a new focus and attention, and the U.S. is anxious to be supportive of progress where possible” Williamson said.
“But let me emphasize and this is terribly important. If we’re going to get a sustainable peace in Darfur…in the end the sovereign state of Sudan will have to address this issue” he said.
Williamson’s visit to Sudan will end Thursday and there was no word on whether he would meet with President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir who is in the center of a row with the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The ICC’s prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo filed 10 charges against Al-Bashir: three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder. Judges are expected to take months to study the evidence before deciding whether to order Al-Bashir’s arrest.
The head of US affairs in the Sudanese foreign ministry Abdel-Basit Al-Sanoosi said they would seek clarification from Williamson on Washington’s position on the ICC developments.
Al-Sanoosi described Washington’s stance on the issue as “mysterious and conflicting and inconsistent”.
In late July the US made a last minute decision to abstain from voting on a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution extending the mandate of the UN-African Union (AU) hybrid force in Darfur (UNAMID).
In explaining the abstention US deputy Representative to the UN Alejandro Wolff said his government strongly supports UNAMID but that the “language added to the resolution would send the wrong signal to the Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir and undermine efforts to bring him and others to justice”.
The 11th hour change in the US position, which angered the UNSC members, was caused by Williamson, a UN diplomat told Sudan Tribune.
Sudan has been plagued by civil wars since independence and an estimated two million people have died in the North-South civil war that ended in 2005 after the CPA.
The deal also does not cover a separate conflict in the western region of Darfur, where tens of thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands driven from their homes since rebels took up arms in early 2003.
(ST)