US proposals "not the basic issues" - Bashir

The Sudanese government of President Umar Hasan al-Bashir is "extremely enthusiastic" about American peace efforts, but considers that four confidence-building measures proposed by the US peace envoy, John Danforth, are not "basic issues," AFP news agency reported on Saturday.

The four US proposals - on humanitarian access to the Nuba Mountains; a cessation of bombing and artillery attacks on civilians; zones of tranquillity and times of tranquillity in which humanitarian assistance can be offered, especially for immunisations; and an end to the taking of slaves - were "tests of good faith" for the government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army, Danforth said after his mission to Sudan in November.

"All these are not basic issues [for ending the war], but are questions in which US public opinion is interested," Bashir told journalists in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, according to AFP.

The points put too much emphasis on the Nuba Mountains, in Southern Kordofan, south-central Sudan, where Bashir claimed the rebels held only 5 percent of the territory, and were "not related to south Sudan, where the war has displaced millions of people", AFP quoted the Sudanese president as saying.

Claims about the existence of slavery in Sudan were "a hollow allegation", and that zones and times of tranquillity had long been applied and observed, he added.

Bashir said the four proposals were an attempt by the US administration of George W. Bush to "neutralise" what he said was "a pressure camp... comprising the Christian right, Jewish and African-American lobbies", the report added.

After the US put its proposals, the government of Sudan and the SPLM/A agreed on an internationally monitored cease-fire to cover the Nuba region, and on "military stand-downs" to implement a US-proposed initiative to eradicate polio, the US reported in mid-December.

The two parties also agreed to the immediate dispatch of a relief and rehabilitation assessment mission to the Nuba Mountains, the findings of which would serve as the basis for the development of a relief and rehabilitation programme, Washington stated.

There are an estimated 158,000 people in need of emergency food assistance in the Nubah Mountains, according to the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Assessments have also identified depleted livestock assets and a chronic lack of agricultural inputs.

"It remains to be seen whether the parties' actions will reflect the agreements... but we are encouraged by the progress that has been achieved," Roger Winter, director of the US Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), told United Nations officials and donor representatives in Geneva, Switzerland.

Danforth is leading a US effort to promote humanitarian access and development in Sudan as an end in themselves and as a tool for renewed peace efforts. He is scheduled to return to Sudan in January to gauge progress on the government and the SPLM/A's commitment to and implementation of these proposals.

In its latest situation report on Sudan, USAID reiterated that it was a priority for 2002 to increase multi-sectoral emergency assistance to war-affected populations, especially in underserved geographic areas, including the Nuba Mountains but also Upper Nile, Southern Blue Nile and eastern Sudan.

A US-proposed mission to assess humanitarian needs for people living in the Nuba region is due before the end of December. The mission would cover all government-controlled and rebel-held areas of the Nubas, and would include appraisals of food, health, and education needs, the Sudanese Al-Ayyam newspaper quoted Sulaf al-Din Salih, Commissioner-General of the Sudanese Humanitarian Aid Commission, as saying.

According to the latest Sudan update from USAID, released on 10 December, programme priorities for next year also include: increased support for the return of refugees and internally displaced persons; continuing support for drought and flood recovery programmes in northern Sudan; and quick response to negotiated humanitarian access agreements.