Sudan NCP Comes to Washington

By: Steve Paterno

The Sudan ruling National Congress Party (NCP) has come to Washington, literally riding on the back of its archenemy, the Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM). The American government invited the NCP and SPLM to the US due to growing international concerns with respect to the deterioration of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). The objective is to salvage whatever is left of the peace deal before the expiration of its implementation date in less than 18-month time. The CPA, signed by these two parties in 2005, was to end the South-North war. The SPLM has always been the US favored party, and had it been on NCP own accord, they would have never had a chance to visit Washington . The NCP, known for brutalizing its own citizens, running a tyrannical system, and a sponsor-of-terrorism is actually under US sanctions and is widely hated in the US at par with Nazi Germany as they are in the same league of genocidaire regimes. However, with this window of opportunity, their visiting delegations to America seize a golden chance to advance their agenda right in the US capital. Their priorities are to portray a better image of themselves to American public, improve bilateral relationship with the US government, and ensure that sanctions on Sudan is lifted and its name is taken out from the list of States sponsors-of-terrorism. They scramble to grab on every opportunity available out of this trip.

Dr. Ghazi Salahuddin Atabani, the head of the delegation and a powerful NCP official, set off the tone, to warm-up the American public with an Op-Ed piece in the Washington Times. In an enthusiastic mode, Atabani exclaims, a “watershed has presented itself,” Masallah (Arabic saying for God given luck). He goes on to say, “the Obama administration will have to place on hold the siren calls by the many Darfur advocacy groups that have sought to reduce the incredibly complex Darfur crisis to a two-word bumper sticker slogan.” To him, the reason is because “a constructive American engagement with the peace process both in Darfur and southern Sudan will need a new approach.” Such is a message that resonates very well with Obama’s administration ‘new approach’ in foreign policy. The US President Special Envoy for Sudan, Gen. Scott Gration is certainly putting into practice this approach, which seems to be favoring the NCP. Hence, the NCP is capitalizing on this. Atabani underscores it when he concludes that the Obama administration “will find a willing partner in the government of national unity in Khartoum.” Many have already warned Gen. Gration in his approach, and expect him to move with caution when giving concessions to the NCP, given the cunning nature of this party with a long history of reneging on agreements. Hopefully, Gen. Gration heeds to the warning as he alluded in a remark that in order for the sanctions to be lifted, Khartoum needs to show more practical progress.

While almost all of the SPLM delegation who came to the conference have gone back, the NCP delegation remained behind in Washington, engaging the Americans, business leaders, foreign dignitaries, and US government through side meetings both in private and in public. In a public rally, the NCP managed to cast the SPLM and government of South Sudan as the villains while the NCP as the good guys who provide South Sudan with full control of their own affairs, including their own budget. An organized business forum by Khartoum embassy for the visiting delegations brought in more than ten big business names to listen to potentials of investments in Sudan and the need for lifting of the sanctions. To dignitaries who attended the CPA conference, the NCP reassures them of the party’s commitment to the deal. At the US Institute for Peace, symposium, the NCP begs that they “don’t have an alternative other than the CPA.” They even attempted to hold a hearing with Senate Foreign Relation Committee, a move that has never materialized due to opposition from most in US Congress. This exposure is what they were looking for on their trip.

Well, for starters, the very reason for the conference dubbed “Supporters of CPA” to be convened, which brought the NCP to Washington, is because of lack of implementation of the agreement by the NCP. The power for the large part lies with the NCP to either honor or dishonor the agreement. Unfortunately, for the last four years, the NCP only selects to implement parts of the agreement that it likes and ignores others. The party lacks the will to implement the agreement in full. Not surprising, as the NCP delegation in Washington is assuring people of their full commitment to the CPA, in Khartoum, the NCP leader in National Assembly, Ahmed Ibrahim al-Tahir makes it unequivocally clear that the NCP is going to use every power of the legislation and law to make secession for South Sudan difficult. The right for South Sudan self determination in a referendum to be held in 2011 that is stipulated in CPA is the ultimate goal of the agreement. The referendum law to facilitate the right for self determination has not yet been passed and the NCP leader in the legislature already declared that they are going to obstruct such a right. Using the power of legislation to frustrate the implementation of CPA is just one of the tactics the NCP deploys, but there are other potent methods such as the use of military force, the method that the NCP may eventually employ to ultimately destroy the CPA and lead the country back to war again.

Perhaps the American businesses that got hooked up with the NCP short stint in Washington are impressed with the prospects of investments proposals that the NCP offers. Nonetheless, such investments in themselves are the reasons for the conflicts in Sudan, because developments are only concentrated in one part of Sudan ; hence, breeding discontent against the system and all those elements that support it. The NCP may talk of Sudan’s demands and desires for Americans locomotive products to sustain the country’s rail system, but places like South Sudan has no real system, let alone whether they can gain from any such business transactions involving locomotive products. Besides the moral obligation to avoid dealing with brutal regime that carries genocide against its own citizens, doing trades under NCP regime comes with its high risks and serious repercussions as multiple forces—military, political, economic, and social—in the country are all against the regime. Therefore, just as the American political leadership requires caution in engaging Khartoum, the business leaders are also obligated to be wary in business dealings with them. The NCP that has been in power for the last two decades is still the same today. Their art in maneuverability for survival has already opened them an opportunity to come to Washington. They should not be rewarded anything further than this.

* Steve Paterno is a Sudanese residing in the U.S.A., and he can be reached at [email protected]