INTERVIEW-Sudan VP defends government over peace concessions

By Mohamed al-Kabir al-Qutbi, Al-Jazirah satellite TV

KHARTOUM, Jan 8, 2005

– Al-Qutbi: We greet you from Khartoum, where we will now relate the story of the peace agreement signed in Kenya between the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM). We will go through this agreement and try to relate its story in full with Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, the first vice-president of the Republic of Sudan. Mr Vice-President, greetings. It is 20 years since the civil war in Sudan, in its modern phase, and it is 50 years since the first rebellion in Torit in 1955, when Sudan was getting ready for independence. Now you have signed this agreement with all its well-known details. How can this agreement achieve peace in Sudan?

Taha: As every one knows, this agreement came after a long hard labour and a difficult and strenuous negotiation, which, in its final phase, continued for about two and a half years. This phase has contributed by adding to the language of the provisions and paragraphs of the agreement, as they exist on paper, certain important nuances, which go beyond the words to search deep into the internal conscience and strengthen the confidence, which was the basis of the success of this agreement. This was the first guarantee. The more confidence is strengthened among the people of Sudan, the more we guarantee stability, success and progress for the agreement.

The second guarantee is that the agreement was stewed on a low burner. It tackled all issues with adequate courage. It also was not short of candidness in tackling the topics and detailing the solutions for these challenges, without restricting the flexibility of implementation afterward.

Role of other political groups

– Al-Qutbi: But, let us speak about the final phase, or at least the two and a half years you mentioned in your reply. You have isolated all the political forces in Sudan. And now, you and the SPLM need the national unanimity of the people of Sudan and all so that they would participate in transforming this agreement and translating it into a reality?

Taha: First, as far as the political forces are concerned, they have not been isolated in the real political sense. Indeed, the negotiations were restricted outwardly by the existence of two sides at the table; namely, the government and the SPLM, but if you looked at the dynamics of the political dialogue that took place during this period, you would find that the government had taken many steps and conducted numerous intensive contacts with all sides in the political arena before the beginning of the dialogue on the leadership level between me and [SPLM leader] Dr John Garang, and after this meeting. All issues were threshed out before the political forces. I say from this rostrum with confidence that every subject of the agreement was presented to these political forces. Some of them submitted written memos and others simply made verbal comments.

You will also find that the SPLM, which is a member of the opposition National Democratic Alliance grouping, used to refer to this grouping. The opposition national grouping used to issue assurances and statements supporting the progress of the agreement step by step. This is one aspect. Now, from the aspect of the substance, we will find that this agreement was founded and built on winning the SPLM.

Peace clauses

– Al-Qutbi: But, the national grouping says in the different news media that it has been isolated, that it is the most influential force in Sudan, and that the implementation of this agreement would depend on it alone. In fact, former Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi called for putting this agreement to some kind of a referendum to be held by the various political forces in Sudan so that it could be discussed, crystallized, adopted and implemented by all?

Taha: Yes, the agreement includes several stations, which, it says, should be open for the participation of the political forces. For example, there is the first station, which is the drafting of the interim constitution. This is a station, which would enable the political forces to participate and express their opinion on how to prepare the substance of the upcoming interim constitution, which would govern the interim phase.

A number of commissions and institutions would be set up to implement the provisions of the agreement. These commissions and institutions would be formed on a national basis. They will not be confined to the two sides only. There would be political, legislative and executive institutions, and there would be room here for the participation of these forces.

True, this participation may have begun symbolically, but this is the nature of transformation and agreement in all parts of the world.

Peace guarantees

– Al-Qutbi: So let me go back and ask about the guarantees, which would realize all these provisions with all their aspirations so as to lead to the safe haven that you aspire for?

Taha: This is an extremely vital question, because the main thing is not drafting provisions. These provisions must be able to become a reality among the people. This is why the chapter on guarantees in the agreement is a big one. The first guarantee we drafted and agreed on was a number of general principles that guarantee the freedom of individuals and groups. In these provisions we spoke about the freedom of religion, freedom of association, freedom of movement and activity, and the freedom of movement between the parts of the united homeland.

We also spoke about guaranteeing human rights, elimination of oppression and respect for international pacts. These principles, which are stipulated in the Machakos Protocol of the agreement, would be a basic part of the first chapter of the interim constitution. This guarantee does not only ensure the provision of these rights and freedoms, but also work out the mechanism that would guarantee the agreement against any violation or encroachment. This would be through the establishment of a constitutional court, which would be independent and with clear powers. It would have the right to repeal decisions that conflict with the constitution, even if they were issued by the parliament or the presidency.

– Al-Qutbi: So, let us speak about this interim constitution. Who will write this constitution in light of the different contradictions? Your political spectrum in the Sudan has not stopped making accusations here and accusations there and isolation here and influence there, and many such things. Yet, you are asking everyone to participate in writing this constitution. Who would write it?

Taha: The experiment of writing constitutions in Sudan has not been successful as to achieve general national accord on them. This thing depends on the nature of political developments and the dynamic ties between the components of the political arena.

According to the agreement, the interim constitution should be written by the sides of the political arena that want and agree to participate in the national committee, which would be formed for this purpose and would consist of the government, the SPLM, and all the other parties whether in the north or the south. It would even include national figures with professional competence and academic experience in the field of law, legislation and administration. This constitution should be written in the first two months of the preparatory period and it should be presented to the legislative bodies of the government and the SPLM so as to adopt it for this interim period.

The most that could be requested, even by the opposition, is that this constitution must guarantee their freedom of expression and association and their right to resort to the people to judge between them and the sides that make up the government. And, this is what the constitution would guarantee completely, as the agreement provides for guaranteeing the freedoms of expression and association. It also provides for a clear and specific date for holding free democratic elections that would be supervised internationally at the beginning or during the fourth year into the agreement.

Concessions

– Al-Qutbi: Many observers say that your recent negotiations, which led to this agreement, began with various concessions by you and the SPLM. Although, this agreement would bring peace to Sudan after six years, according to the optimists, it would mean the dissolution of the SPLM and the ruling National Congress Party with its known principles since 1989?

Taha: There are two parts to this question. The talk that concessions were made by each side is something that agrees with the nature of negotiation. I see no embarrassment in and have no compunction about making concessions to a national side, which constitutes a part of Sudan, especially if these concessions would spare bloodshed and give this side psychological and political satisfaction to participate in building its unified homeland without conflict and fighting.

As for the second part, which deals with the substance of the agreement and its effect on the cultural and intellectual components of the National Salvation Party, we say that one of the best characteristics of this agreement is that it would preserve the unity of Sudan during the interim period. Moreover, it would guarantee for the first time a satisfactory equation between religion and the state. The agreement does not set the foundation for a secular state. But, it regulates the relationship between religion and the state so that Muslims would resort to their shariah –Islamic law– and perform their rituals in full, and Christians and non-Muslims in general would have the right to have their religious freedoms, beliefs and political and social rights in full, side by side with their Muslim brothers.

In my opinion, this chapter of the agreement is, perhaps, the best that Sudan could offer to the experiment of reconciling religions and beliefs in a multi-religious and multi-cultural state.

– Al-Qutbi: What are the components of this interim period and the prospects of Sudan’s political performance during this period in light of the facts that would develop day after day with the development and implementation of this agreement?

Taha: On the political level, the interim period would consist of important stages. The first is the existence of an interim constitution governing every one under an independent constitutional judiciary. The second is the establishment of legislative and executive institutions that would be responsible and accountable before the public, and two legislative assemblies; namely, the parliament and an assembly for the regions to ensure the rights of these regions against any violation or encroachment.

There is a free space for political action, which would be regulated by a free law that would regulate and not restrict or deter party activities. There would be open democratic consultation on this law before its approval by the legislative assembly.

There would be open democratic practice by holding full elections from the base to the peak, including even the presidency and premiership. In southern Sudan, the public would give its judgment on these elections under open and neutral international supervision.

The situation in southern Sudan was the result of backwardness, scarcity of resources, people’s dissatisfaction, and shortage of services. The agreement calls on the Sudanese people to pool their resources rather than fight politically on empty slogans and struggle over power. Thus, the emphasis and the priority would be on taking care of the poor classes, returning of the refugees, and ensuring essential services for the citizens, including health care, education and job opportunities for productive manpower, graduates and the youths who are graduating from schools and universities. We must also establish a new equation for Sudan’s foreign relations that would increase the chances of useful cooperation with its African, Arab, Islamic and world environs in the fields of investment and development in a clever and useful partnership.

Finally, the most significant democratic aim we seek with determination and confidence is that in the end we would subject all this experiment to an open public test through the referendum, which would take place in southern Sudan, so that it would give a testimony to the validity of the experiment, and thus ensure the unity of Sudan.

– Al-Qutbi: We thank Ali Uthman Muhammad Taha, first vice-president of the Republic of Sudan, who was the guest of our dialogue. We read with him in some lines the story of peace in Sudan, which is a long and complex story that took 50 years to achieve this result.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, and may the peace and blessings of God be upon you.

Material from the BBC Monitoring Service, original in Arabic.