Sudan’s ruling party skeptical of reported US intention to offer incentives

August 6, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in northern Sudan is skeptical of recent reports about deliberations within the US Administration on offering more incentives to persuade the party to cooperate with a referendum on south Sudan’s self-determination, a party official said on Monday.

Mustafa Osman Ismail, an adviser to president Al-Bashir and NCP’s secretary of external affairs, said that his party “doubts the seriousness of the US Administration in adopting a positive strategy towards Sudan.”

According to the country’s official news agency, SUNA, Isma’il attributed the doubts to “the falling of the President Obama into the trap of the old guards of the US administration.”

“The government did not receive till now a notice on an official position from the United States through the official organs to prove that the American government started taking such a stance” said the presidential adviser.

Ismail comments come against the background of reports in the US media that President Obama and his advisers are mulling over more incentives to persuade Sudan’s leadership to cooperate with the referendum on south Sudan’s self-determination. According to a report published by the Washington Post recently, those incentives include “upgrading relations and removing Sudan from the list of terrorism supporters.”

Sudan has long complaints that hardliners within the US administration are stonewalling any attempts to remove Sudan’s name from the US list of countries sponsoring terrorism and lift US economic sanctions imposed against the country.

Under a 2005’s peace deal that ended civil war between north and south Sudan, the south is due to vote in January 2011 on whether to remain united with the north or secede to form the world’s newest nation and split Africa’s largest country. All prognoses indicate that south Sudanese citizens will vote overwhelmingly in favor of secession.

Preparations for the independence vote are floundering due to political disagreements between the NCP and the SPLM, the former guerilla movement that fought the war against the north and now rules south Sudan.

(ST)