I served as the U.S. Envoy to Sudan under President Bush and attended the independence celebration in Juba as a guest of the Southern government. I was joined by many other westerners who had worked with the South over more than two decades to publicize the atrocities taking place, to mobilize humanitarian and development resources, and to work on the political and diplomatic issues. When I took my first trip to Sudan in 1989 during a terrible famine in the South which claimed 250,000 lives I never thought this day would come. But it has.
The new Republic will determine the stability of the nine countries bordering Sudan which have been destabilized by the chaos of the two civil wars and the weakness and dysfunctions of the Sudanese state. The Bashir Islamist government, which took power in a 1989 coup, planned to use South Sudan as a base to spread its ideology across Africa — a threat not lost on African countries with large Muslim populations which have had historically good relations with their Christian neighbors.
The Bashir regime’s ultimate ambitions have not changed; it is the internal weaknesses of the Sudanese state that have constrained their adventurism. In the 1990’s Sudan supported and was headquarters to nearly all of the world’s most violent Islamist groups, including Al Queda. Osama bin Laden lived there.
spokesman for the rebels, Bol Gatkouth, said the group was accepting a recent offer of amnesty extended by South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and will open talks with the government.
The group, led by renegade general Peter Gadet and based in South Sudan's Unity state, is one of several rebel groups fighting government forces in the new country.
President Kiir first offered amnesty to the militias last year and renewed the offer at independence ceremonies on July 9.
South Sudan voted to split from the north in a January referendum. Southern officials have accused Khartoum government of supporting the militias to destabilize the new country.
No comments:
Post a Comment