US envoy makes four-point peace proposal

The United States' special envoy to Sudan, John Danforth, on Wednesday made public four confidence-building measures he has proposed to the Sudanese government in an effort to help bring an end to the country's 18-year civil war. During talks with Sudanese President Umar Hasan al-Bashir on Tuesday, Danforth called for: improved humanitarian access in conflict areas; the creation of zones and periods of tranquillity, in which immunisation efforts and other humanitarian activities could proceed in peace; an end to bombing and other military attacks on civilians; and an end to the abduction of civilians. The proposals were "important for confidence-building and understanding [between the government and the rebel Sudan People`s Liberation Movement/Army, SPLM/A] and could be positive factors for achieving peace," AFP news agency on Wednesday quoted Danforth as saying. The US envoy, a former Republican senator, arrived in Sudan on Monday on a four-day visit to the country, his first since being appointed to the post by President George W Bush in September. He said he would return to Sudan in mid-January to assess progress in the peace process. The Sudanese News Agency (SUNA) reported on Wednesday that Danforth was also scheduled to meet the head of the SPLM/A, John Garang (de Mabior), and would present the peace proposals to him. Danforth emphasised the need for the Sudanese government to allow "continuous humanitarian access" to the Nubah Mountains region of southern Kordofan State, beyond a four-week period of tranquillity agreed last week. That breakthrough agreement - achieved after years of stalled negotiations by the United Nations - was largely down to Khartoum's anxiety to restore bilateral relations with the US, and its increased leverage in the wake of the 11 September attacks, diplomatic sources told IRIN on Thursday. The Nubah Mountains region has been the site of serious fighting between the Sudanese government and the SPLM/A, and the government has been criticised by aid agencies and human rights groups for denying humanitarian access to war- and drought-affected populations there. Following Khartoum's agreement to cooperate with US anti-terrorist efforts after the 11 September suicide attacks in Washington and New York, regional analysts have reported an improvement in Sudanese-US relations. However, Sudan remains on the US State Department's list of seven terrorist-sponsoring countries and the Bush administration on 1 November extended for one year his country's unilateral sanctions against Sudan. "The actions and policies of the government of Sudan continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States," UPI quoted a White House statement as saying on that date. The statement cited Sudanese government policies of allowing slavery, restricting religious and political freedoms, and harbouring terrorists as justifications for the retention of sanctions. US sanctions against Sudan restrict all goods and services of Sudanese origin from entering the US, block all non-agricultural assets of the government of Sudan inside the US, and prohibit all US citizens from financial dealings with the Sudanese government - a restriction that prevents US companies from exploiting southern Sudan's oil reserves. Relations between the US and any other country would be "influenced by the position of that country towards terrorism", Danforth was quoted as saying by Associated Press (AP). US representatives in October abstained from a UN Security Council vote which ended its sanctions against Sudan - sanctions which were imposed after it failed to hand over suspects in an assassination attempt on Egyptian President Husni Mubarak in Ethiopia in 1996. The US had not developed a comprehensive plan for bringing about peace in Sudan, as peace initiatives of this nature already existed, SUNA cited Danforth as saying in Sudan this week. Two parallel peace plans - a joint Egyptian-Libyan initiative and an eight-year plan under the auspices of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) - are currently under discussion among power-brokers in Sudan. "The possibility of peace depends on the will of combatants, not on the intentions of outsiders," Danforth said. "I have set one year for my mission, and if I fail, I will go back to President George Bush and tell him that we have failed."