Bringing the protocols to the people
By Joyce Mulama
NAIROBI, June 18, 2004 (IPS) — An association of churches, donor organisations and other groups has unveiled a plan to acquaint Sudanese communities with peace protocols that have been signed to end their country’s long-running civil war.
The project was developed by the Sudan Ecumenical Forum (SEF) during a four-day meeting held this week in Limuru, near the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
In an interview with IPS, SEF Chairman Kevin Dowling said the plan would include a translation of protocols drawn up during the Sudanese peace process, into languages spoken in the East African country.
“We realise that the peace must be owned by the people of Sudan. Therefore, it is important that they are conversant with all sections of the agreements,” he said. “This will make it easy to carry out civic education among the people of Sudan after a final peace agreement is reached.”
“The plan provides for a team of church leaders in Sudan to go through the protocols, pinpointing critical areas and formulating them into simple language for easy understanding by the populations.People (will be) given a chance to respond to the document,” noted Dowling, who also serves as a Catholic bishop in South Africa.
As dozens of different languages are spoken by Sudan’s 572 tribes, this promises to be a daunting task.
But, Dowling is undeterred, saying the necessary funds will be found: “We have committed ourselves to popularising the protocols among the communities and we shall have to do all we can to ensure that the people are empowered on every section of the peace deals.”
Paul Chol Deng, General Secretary of the Sudan Council of Churches, told journalists at a press briefing Thursday that the SEF initiative was a bid to prevent the peace accords from going the way of a 1972 agreement to end conflict in Sudan.
The 1972 treaty, brokered by the All Africa Conference of Churches and the World Council of Churches, only lasted for 10 years, something that has been blamed on the fact that mediators failed to put mechanisms in place to monitor the accord.
“We do not want what happened that time to repeat itself. We are preparing ourselves to jealously guard the imminent peace,” said Deng.
Talks to end the 21-year conflict between Islamic authorities in Khartoum and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army in the south of the country began in Kenya in 2002. To date, they have led to the signing of six accords which provide for an interim government of national unity, the sharing of revenues from oil resources – and the integration of government and rebel troops into a single army, amongst other matters.
South Sudan will also be allowed to hold a referendum six years after the signing of a final peace treaty, on whether it wants to secede from the rest of the country. The last three of the protocols were signed on May 26, and there are hopes that a final accord will be in place by next month.
But, even as SEF representatives prepare to take the peace protocols to the people, concerns are being expressed about the commitment of government and rebels to the accords.
“The protocols were arrived at as a result of pressure, particularly from the United States, which has an act to deal accordingly with any one party responsible for failing to conclude the peace negotiations leading to a final peace agreement,” Akolda Tier, a law professor at the University of Khartoum, told journalists at the SEF press conference.
“The moment the dust settles, there will be temptation for the parties to go back to their original situation, which is hostility,” he added.
The Sudan Peace Act was signed into law by President George Bush in October 2002. If he can certify that Khartoum is “not engaged in good faith negotiations” to end fighting, Bush is authorised by the act to seek a United Nations Security Council resolution to impose an arms embargo on Sudan. The law also allows Washington to oppose loans to Sudan’s government from global financial institutions, and to block it from receiving oil revenues, amongst other sanctions.
Norway and Italy have also observed the Sudanese peace process, which is being brokered by the Inter Governmental Authority on Development – a regional body. Over two million people have been killed and five million displaced by the conflict in south Sudan.
A separate conflict in Sudan’s western Darfur region has also thrown a pall over the Sudanese peace process. In recent months, Khartoum has repeatedly been accused of backing Arab militias in Darfur which are terrorising the members of three black, ethnic groups. Sudanese officials deny the charges.
About a million people in the region have been displaced, and 180,000 have fled to neighbouring Chad. The Darfur crisis began last year, after two rebel groups in the area staged attacks to protest against the actions of the militias – and Khartoum’s alleged tendency to disregard the needs of the region.