US envoy to begin diplomacy blitz
May 22, 2009 (WASHINGTON) – After working quietly to improve bilateral channels with the Government of Sudan and to persuade rebel leaders to come to peace talks on the Darfur conflict, US Special Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration is now undertaking a multilateral diplomacy blitz to widen the international scope and intensity of his diplomatic strategy.
Gration, a former Air Force general, will travel to China, Qatar, the United Kingdom and France from May 23 to June 1.
Engagement between the US and Sudanese governments has been ongoing since improving from a low point during the Clinton administration, when US warplanes bombed a pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum. This rapprochement continued through the landmark 2005 peace deal, when Sudan’s ruling party agreed to commit to the US-backed Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
Gration plans to reconvene the international troika of Norway, the United Kingdom and the US, whose collective efforts made possible the CPA. This meeting will be held in London after a he stops in Doha at a gathering of Sudan Special Envoys from China, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and the European Union.
According to the State Department’s Office of the Spokesman, he will also meet in London with the Sudan Contact Group comprised of diplomats from Canada, the European Union, France, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States, to address issues related to implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
Gration’s approach approximates the policy advised six months ago by the latest former US envoy to Sudan, Richard Williamson, who himself had focused his efforts on deployment of peacekeepers rather than peace talks. Ambassador Williamson, who left his post saying “I’ve never worked on a more discouraging project,” told the incoming Obama team to test existing diplomatic openings – despite months earlier having recommended several military options to President Bush.
Diplomatic activity on this level of intensity has not been seen the period of the CPA negotiations. However, US Special Envoy to Sudan Andrew Natsios made his own trip to China in early 2007. He opined at an event in Washington last year that the visit had greatly perturbed Sudanese officials.
US policy-makers view such engagement with China as a means of pressuring the Sudan government, due to the close military and economic ties between China and Sudan.
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US envoy to begin diplomacy blitz
Hi all London, Archbishop Daniel Deng, oto kiralamaleader of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, accused China of
pursuing a damaging policy of kiral?k araçlar economic gain in Sudan and urged Beijing to use its influence to help ease rising tension ahead of elections.
“China is looking only oto kiralama ankara for minerals, they are looking for economic benefit. That is all.
That is damaging the country. They are not even making peace,”
the Anglican archbishop said araba kiralama during a visit to Lambeth Palace in London on Monday.
“They are not interested in whether ankara oto kiralama Sudan goes to war or not. That is not their mission, that is not their problem,” he further said.
Deng was joined by the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr araç kiralama Rowan Williams, who recommended a single high level figure to
act as a mediator between the feuding
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parties and called on China to kiral?k araç play a “positive” role in peace efforts.