NEWSMAKER-Sudan Islamist turned peacemaker with southerners
KHARTOUM, May 26 (Reuters) – The Sudanese government’s top peace negotiator, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, who has dedicated his life to building an Islamic state, seems an unlikely man to forge peace with mainly Christian and animist southern rebels.
But analysts say Sudan’s first vice-president, who hammered out a deal on Wednesday clearing the way for a comprehensive peace after face-to-face talks with southern rebel leader John Garang, is one of the few politicians with the political clout and pragmatism to succeed where others failed.
Taha took a direct role in peace talks in September 2003, when he and Garang, leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, agreed a deal on the structure of Sudan’s army and thereby overcame one of the toughest issues facing the two sides.
Thousands of Sudanese from both the north and south turned out to greet his return to Khartoum after that agreement, shouting: “Welcome, welcome, man of peace.”
Now in his mid-50s, Taha has been a pillar in the government of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who came to power in a military coup in 1989 and who heads an Islamic government.
The imposition of Islamic sharia in 1983 by a previous president was one of the catalysts for Sudan’s civil war. Southerners, who are mainly non-Muslims, have been fighting since then for autonomy and exemption from sharia.
Analysts say Taha’s influence among inner government circles and strong streak of pragmatism are the secret of his success.
“Taha is the key to the talks because he is the power in Khartoum,” one northern Sudanese political analyst said.
A senior Western diplomat who follows Sudan closely said: “Taha has the power to make peace. He’s the one who can do it. He is also under a good deal of pressure and he is a pragmatist.”
Taha was promoted to first vice president from foreign minister when his predecessor died in a plane crash in 1998.
As a student, he joined the National Islamic Front (NIF) — a fundamentalist political party which aimed to turn Sudan into an Islamic republic.
The NIF, whose name later changed to the National Congress Party, supported the 1989 coup that brought Bashir to power.
In the mid-1990s, Taha headed the Social Planning Ministry, which oversaw Khartoum’s efforts to make Sudan more Islamic, partly through spreading the teaching of Islam in schools.
Born in the Nile River State in 1947, Taha studied law at the University of Khartoum.