The Southern Sudan Liaison Offices: A diplomessy?

By Remember Miamingi

January 27, 2009 — The numbers of Liaison offices established by the government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) are on the increase. They have offices in Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. Even though this development has been greeted with euphoria among southern Sudanese, there is scanty, if any, critical appraisal of the legal foundation on which the GoSS is acting to establish these offices and the utility of such ventures. This article is an effort in this regard. This article will examine the identity of these entities called Liaison offices, their legal foundation and powers, their desirability and utility.

Political relations between states are carried out by diplomatic missions, comprising ambassadors and diplomats. Trade relations, on the other hand are conducted by consular officials. The tendency today is to blur this distinction between diplomatic and consular services and integrate political and trade services into one mission. Thus, for example, in some Sudanese missions abroad, these services could be housed in one premise. A country could only have one diplomatic entity conducting its political and trade relations on its behalf.

The Sudan presents a nuance case in that the country operates an asymmetrical federal system in which you have a federation as well as a two- state- system kind of arrangement. There are four levels of governments in the Sudan: the National Government which has jurisdiction with respect to national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Sudan; the Government of Southern Sudan which has authority with respect to the states and people of Southern Sudan; State Governments and Local Governments. All these levels of government are supposed to collaborate and assist each other in fulfilling their constitutional obligations. They are equally forbidden to usurp powers not conferred on them by the Interim National Constitution (INC).

According to INC, the National Government has exclusive powers over foreign affairs and international representation. The powers of the GoSS are listed in Schedules B and D, read together with Schedules E and F, of the Interim National Constitution (INC), the Interim Constitution of Southern Sudan (ICSS) and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). Schedules B, D, E and F do not give powers over foreign and international representation to the GoSS. The irresistible question then is, where does the GoSS get its power to initiate, negotiate, establish, fund and manage Liaison Offices? What are these offices? Are they tainted, by any chance, with diplomatic characteristics?

The GoSS maintains that these offices have their constitutional mandate under article 46 of ICSS. According to this article:

The Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) shall establish, develop and maintain good relations and cooperation with foreign governments, Foreign Non-governmental organizations and associations for mutual advantage in trade, investment, culture, sports, education, credit, loans, grants, technical assistance and other fields of development Cooperation.

The GoSS has interpreted this article to mean that in order to effectively ‘develop and maintain good relations and cooperation with foreign governments’, it needs to establish a presence in the countries of these foreign governments and hence, the need for a Liaison office. As plausible as this construction might be, there are at least, two problems with it.

First, the ICSS derives its legitimacy, powers and authorities, primarily, from the INC and the CPA. The INC is supreme and the ICSS must comply with it. The powers in article 46 are conspicuously missing in the list of powers the INC grants to the GoSS. Therefore, if this provision is interpreted to give powers to GoSS in the areas of foreign affairs and international representation, this provision certainly conflicts with the provisions of the INC and is void to the extent of that inconsistency. There is therefore no such power available to the GoSS.

Second, in order to effectively and efficiently establish, develop and maintain good relations and cooperation with foreign governments, these entities need diplomatic cover and immunities. International law recognize, for this purposes only foreign missions of countries. So if these entities do not and cannot have diplomatic status and thus no substantive representational status, how can they fulfill the expectations of article 46? Are they not just one of those white elephant projects of African governments used to siphon public funds and reward few cronies?

One intriguing thing about these offices is that many of them were SPLA/SPLM operating centers during the war and were used to mobilize resources and support for the course of the Movement. Certainly, that was innovative! But, after putting down their guns and formed a government and empower that government with the powers to represent it, changing the garments of this entities under whatever name or guise is not only illegitimate, but also a scandalous waste of public resources. These entities therefore, represent a diplomatic messy both for the government of the Sudan and the GoSS.

I would therefore recommend that the current memorandum entered in between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Sudan and Ministry of Regional Cooperation of Southern Sudan which fathers these entities should be replaced with a new arrangement. In this arrangement, these Liaison Offices should be turned into Southern Sudan affairs attaché and be attached to the Foreign Missions of the Sudan. This way, they will maintain their independence, benefit from diplomatic privileges, represent the interest of Southern Sudan in all political and trade issues.

If one of the reasons why these Liaison offices are established is to ensure that incase southerners vote for independence in the referendum, we will have structures and experienced staffs to conduct our foreign relations, then the best way is to incubate and train these individuals in our existing Missions and not isolate them from the day to day running of these missions.

Remember Miamingi is a lawyer. He can be reached at [email protected].