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19 October 2009
Sudan: A Critical Moment, a Comprehensive Approach
Outlines critical lessons learned, U.S. strategic objectives and actions
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
October 19, 2009
MEDIA NOTE
Sudan: A Critical Moment, A Comprehensive Approach
Sudan is at an important crossroads that can either lead to steady improvements
in the lives of the Sudanese people or degenerate into even more violent conflict
and state failure. Now is the time for the United States to act with
a sense of urgency and purpose to protect civilians and work toward a comprehensive
peace. The consequences are stark. Sudan’s implosion could lead to widespread
regional instability or new safe-havens for international terrorists, significantly
threatening U.S. interests. The United States has a clear obligation
to the Sudanese people – both in our role as witness to the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement, and as the first country that unequivocally identified events
in Darfur as genocide – to help lead an international effort.
The United States and our international partners face multiple challenges
in Sudan. Six years after its initiation, the conflict in Darfur remains unresolved. In
2003, the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and government-supported militia,
sometimes referred to as “Janjaweed”, launched a genocidal campaign
that targeted ethnic groups affiliated with a brewing Darfur rebellion, leading
to the death of hundreds of thousands of people and displacing some 2.7 million
people and more than 250,000 refugees. Unfulfilled ceasefire and peace agreements,
the proliferation of rebel groups, and the involvement of regional states have
prolonged the crisis and complicated international efforts to reach a peace
agreement. While the intensity of the violence has lessened since 2005,
civilians continue to live in unacceptable insecurity. Without an active
peace process, a commitment to addressing accountability for crimes committed
against civilians, a fully deployed, equipped, and performing United Nations
(U.N.)-African Union (AU) peacekeeping force, and serious planning for regional
recovery, the situation in Darfur will continue to fester, destabilizing the
country and the region.
In a similar vein, delays in implementing key portions of the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement (CPA) – the agreement between the NCP and the southern
Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) that ended more than two
decades of conflict between northern and southern Sudan, which left more than
2 million people dead – represent a dangerous flashpoint for renewed
conflict. Per the CPA, the South, where governing capacity is nascent,
will vote in a referendum in 2011 on self-determination – whether to
secede or remain part of a unified Sudanese state. The Three Areas are
also flashpoints for renewed conflict: Abyei, Southern Kordofan, and
Blue Nile will engage in a referendum and popular consultations respectivelyon
their status over the next 15 months. In the time remaining before the
referenda and consultations, the United States is working to reinvigorate international
engagement in the CPA and to bolster the peace accord by supporting national
elections in 2010, working to resolve outstanding border demarcation disputes,
and ensuring the parties live up to their obligations to prevent a return to
war.
The international community has demonstrated its commitment to the Sudanese
people by supporting the deployment of the first Hybrid AU-U.N. peacekeeping
force in Darfur, sustaining the presence of some 10,000 U.N. peacekeepers in
southern Sudan, and contributing more than $1 billion in humanitarian assistance
to the country every year. Most recently, the International Criminal
Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Bashir in early
2009, charging him with having perpetrated war crimes and crimes against humanity
in Darfur.
Despite these significant developments, sustained political will to address
Sudan’s tough challenges in the international community is sometimes
lacking. American leadership is essential to a more effective multilateral
approach. The United States is working to reconstitute, broaden, and
strengthen the multilateral coalition that helped achieve the signing of the
CPA, and will work to more concretely transform widespread international concern
about Darfur into serious multilateral commitments. This expanded coalition
must meet our responsibility to promote security, justice, and development,
while broadening our leverage moving forward.
Critical Lessons Learned from Past Efforts
• The United States cannot succeed in achieving our policy goals by
focusing exclusively on Darfur or CPA implementation – both must be addressed
seriously and simultaneously, while also working to resolve and prevent conflict
throughout Sudan.
• United States policy must be agile enough to address discrete emerging
crises, while maintaining a sustained focus on long-term stability.
• To advance peace and security in Sudan, we must engage with allies
and with those with whom we disagree. United States diplomacy must be
both sustained and broad, encompassing not just the National Congress Party,
SPLM, and major Darfuri rebel groups but also critical regional and international
actors.
• Assessments of progress and decisions regarding incentives and disincentives
must not be based on process-related accomplishments (i.e. the signing of a
MOU or the issuance of a set of visas), but rather based on verifiable changes
in conditions on the ground.
• Accountability for genocide and atrocities is necessary for reconciliation
and lasting peace.
• It must be clear to all parties that Sudanese support for counterterrorism
objectives is valued, but cannot be used as a bargaining chip to evade responsibilities
in Darfur or in implementing the CPA.
U.S. Strategic Objectives
The U.S. strategy in Sudan must focus on ending the suffering in Darfur, and
building a lasting peace. The three principal U.S. strategic priorities in
Sudan include:
1) A definitive end to conflict, gross human rights abuses, and genocide in
Darfur.
2) Implementation of the North-South CPA that results in a peaceful post-2011
Sudan, or an orderly path toward two separate and viable states at peace with
each other.
3) Ensure that Sudan does not provide a safe haven for international terrorists.
The United States will use all elements of influence to achieve our strategic
objectives. The United States Special Envoy for Sudan will play the leading
role in pursuing our Sudan strategy. Fundamental to all United States Government
efforts to bring about peace and security throughout Sudan is holding responsible
parties accountable for creating the conditions that can foster concrete and
sustainable improvements in the lives of Sudanese people. This includes
frank dialogue with the Government of Sudan about what needs to be accomplished,
how the bilateral relationship can improve if conditions transform, and how
the government will become even more isolated if conditions remain the same
or worsen. The United States will seek to broaden and deepen the multilateral
coalition actively working to achieve peace in Darfur and full implementation
of the CPA such that backsliding by any party is met with credible, meaningful
disincentives, leveraged by the United States and the international community.
Each quarter, the interagency at senior levels will assess a variety of indicators
of progress or of deepening crisis, and that assessment will include calibrated
steps to bolster support for positive change and to discourage backsliding. Progress
toward achievement of the strategic objectives will trigger steps designed
to strengthen the hands of those implementing the changes. Failure to
improve conditions will trigger increased pressure on recalcitrant actors.
United States policy will also acknowledge that the Government of Southern
Sudan (GoSS) must also abide by its responsibilities under the terms of the
CPA, and prioritize conflict mitigation and resolution, capacity-building,
transparency and accountability, and service delivery. Given the stakes
and the pace of events, the United States must ensure that its assistance initiatives
in the South are both effective and efficient, reflecting these urgent priorities. The
Special Envoy will continue to engage and consult broadly with the SPLM, Darfur
rebel and civil society groups, and other actors to ensure that the United
States can bring focused efforts to bear on key levers of influence at critical
moments.
Key Implementation Elements
Strategic Objective I: A definitive end to conflict, gross human rights
abuses, and genocide in Darfur.
• Enhance Civilian Protection. The United States will
work to strengthen the UNAMID by: (1) strengthening multilateral resolve
to impose consequences on actors obstructing UNAMID operations, access, and
performance; (2) providing direct U.S. funding, and U.S. diplomatic, logistical,
and other support toward the provision of critically needed equipment (including
helicopters); and (3) planning contingencies in Darfur by developing a scale
of appropriate responses to worsening crises.
• Promote a Negotiated Solution to the Conflict. The
Special Envoy will establish and maintain a dialogue with armed movements in
Darfur and solicit support for the peace process from Sudan’s neighbors. The
United States will support a political agreement that addresses the underlying
causes of conflict in Darfur by building on Qatar’s peace negotiation
efforts, providing direct support to the Joint AU-U.N. Joint Chief Mediator
for Darfur, and encouraging the broad participation, including by all diverse
representations of civil society, in the peace process. The United States
will seek to renew all parties’ commitment to the 2005 Declaration of
Principles that obligates the Sudanese Government and all major Darfuri armed
groups to seek a peaceful solution to their grievances in Darfur and to adhere
to a 2004 humanitarian ceasefire.
• Encourage and Strengthen Initiatives for Ending Violent Conflict. The
United States will support international efforts to achieve a cessation of
hostilities in Darfur and through a variety of means will urge Sudan and Chad
to cease support to rebel groups under their influence. The United States
will seek to work with a broad array of partners on the ground to gather information
on and to fight sexual and gender-based violence in Sudan to support the implementation
of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1820.
• Support Accountability. In addition to supporting international
efforts to bring those responsible for genocide and war crimes in Darfur to
justice, the United States will work with Darfuri civil society to support
locally-owned accountability and reconciliation mechanisms that can make peace
more sustainable.
• Improve the Humanitarian Situation. The United States
will work with other donors and humanitarian organizations in the field to
insist that the Government of Sudan fulfill its obligations to its citizens,
by improving humanitarian access and coverage in Darfur. The United States
will place a premium on core humanitarian principles and on the use of shared,
concrete, and transparent humanitarian indicators to gauge the situation on
the ground.
Strategic Objective II: Implementation of the CPA that results in a
peaceful post-2011 Sudan or an orderly transition to two separate and viable
states at peace with each other.
• Address Unimplemented Elements of the CPA. The United
States will work with international partners to encourage the parties to implement
the necessary legislation and planning for the 2010 elections and the 2011
referenda. Among other issues, the United States will work with international
partners to: (1) provide assistance for census resolution, voter registration
and education, political party assistance, polling place administration, balloting
mechanics, and ensuring international and local domestic election and referenda
monitoring; and (2) encourage the parties to enact the necessary legal reforms
to create an environment more conducive to a credible election process and
referendum, including through the enactment of a credible referendum law. The
United States will assist the parties in resolving census and referendum disputes
in accordance with the CPA. In addition, the United States will support
efforts to push for the timely and transparent demarcation of the North-South
border through the provision of technical expertise and support international
efforts to professionalize and equip the Joint Integrated Units (JIUs) responsible
for providing security in key areas.
• Reinvigorate and Strengthen International Engagement on CPA Implementation. The
Special Envoy has organized a “Forum for Supporters of the CPA”,
and reinvigorated the “Troika” (the U.S., U.K, and Norway all act
as CPA guarantors) to coordinate and rejuvenate international efforts to support
CPA implementation. The United States will also work to strengthen the
role of the Assessment and Evaluation Committee (AEC), the primary forum charged
with mediating CPA implementation disputes between the two parties.
• Defuse Tension in the Three Areas. In Abyei, Southern
Kordofan, and Blue Nile, the United States will: (1) assist in the development
and/or reinvigoration of U.N.-assisted disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration
(DDR) programs; (2) restore and strengthen NGO operations to provide vital
development assistance and conflict prevention resources, and to offset the
potential for conflict once new borders are drawn; and (3) as appropriate,
provide direct technical support to local administrations.
• Promote the Development of Post-2011 Wealth-Sharing Mechanisms. The
United States will work with international partners to support the parties
in developing a post-2011 wealth-sharing agreement and resolve other post-2011
political and economic issues.
• Promote Improved Governing Capacity and Greater Transparency in
Southern Sudan. The United States will work to improve security
for the southern Sudanese people by supporting DDR and conflict prevention
initiatives and strengthening the capacity of the security sector and criminal
justice system. The United States will also work to improve economic
conditions and outcomes. The United States will provide technical advisors
to vital ministries and will work to strengthen entities such as the U.N.
Development Program’s Local Government Reform Program (LGRP). The
United States will work with international partners to implement the World
Bank Multi-Donor Trust Fund South Strategy in a timely manner and to improve
access to capital, particularly microfinancing, for agricultural enterprises
and local private sector ventures. The United States will support efforts
and initiatives that assist in increasing trade between Sudan and its neighbors.
Transparency in fiscal expenditures will be critical to attracting investment,
and the United States will support World Bank anticorruption efforts in Southern
Sudan.
Strategic Objective III: Ensure that Sudan does not serve as a safe
haven for terrorists.
• Prevent Terrorists from developing a foothold in Sudan. The
United States has a strategic interest in preventing Sudan from providing safe
haven for terrorist organizations. The United States will work with the
international community to reduce the ability of terrorists and non-state actors
inimical to U.S. interests from developing a foothold in Sudan.
Outreach and Consultation
The strong voices of committed advocates and members of Congress have been
indispensable to elevating Sudan on the U.S. policy agenda. These stakeholders
are assets in U.S. efforts to end the suffering of the Sudanese people and
bring stability to the country. Consistent efforts to maintain a regular
dialogue with these communities will strengthen U.S. policy and be vital to
success. The Special Envoy will meet regularly with advocates and will
maintain open lines of communication with Congress to ensure that serious and
substantive consultations are a regular part of the policy implementation process.
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