State of Current International Relations in Sudan - Essay Example

Of Current International Relations in Sudan Introduction Sudan has been faced by conflicts that have lasted for more than two decades and theyhave lead to loss of life and property. Relations with other nations and international bodies can end up in two dimensions; (a) end the conflict in Sudan or (b) accelerate conflict between the warring parties. Relations between Sudan and the United States Relations between Sudan and the United States (US) have not been good for many years. Since the year 1989, the US has been holding sanctions against the President Omar Al-Bashir government because of a number of reasons. These reasons include human rights concern and Sudan’s support for terrorism. In the late 1990s, the US got involved in the efforts to end conflict between Northern Sudan and Southern Sudan. Recent developments between these two nations have been the new policy announced by the Obama administration in October 2009. The policy has three key items; to end the conflict in the Darfur Region, implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and ensuring that Sudan does not harbor international terrorist groups. Most of the Sudanese people support the new policy but in mid-February 2010, there were calls to the Obama administration by Sudan advocacy group to fire the US Special Envoy Gration. The claims were on the ground that the Envoy was favoring the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and was too critical of other groups. The same sentiments were echoed by the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni at the African Union Summit held in Ethiopia (Dagne, 2010). 0n 22nd October 2010, the Obama administration offered to continue with diplomatic relations with Sudan as long as Khartoum met some conditions. Among the conditions include full implementation of the 2005 CPA, the referendum in the south will be held on January 9, 2011 as agreed upon and find a lasting solution for the Sudan conflict. The move by the US has elicited criticism from Western civil societies who claim that Sudan should be treated as an outcast. This is a bad notion about Sudan and such sentiments can derail the efforts by other countries to achieve a lasting solution to the conflict. A lot of questions arise because of the US involvement in Sudan at this time. The big question is whether they will succeed this time after numerous failures in the past in trying to end conflicts in Somalia and Sudan. The US has so far gotten support from other nations. Norway is offering technical advice on oil revenue sharing and the United Kingdom is advising on border demarcation and debt relief. However, the relations between Sudan and US are still wanting. A meeting held by Sudan and United Nations in New York saw Sudan carry three conditions that were to be met to ensure that Khartoum holds a legitimate and democratic referendum. The conditions include; the US to lift all sanctions against Sudan, Washington to assist in the suspension of the ICC warrant of arrest against President Omar Al-Bashir, and US to remove Sudan from the list of nations sponsoring international terrorism. From these developments, a lot has to be done if Sudan wants to find a lasting solution to their conflict. US also have to loosen their condition on the matter and come up with better ways to solve the problem, failure to bring peace in Somalia, Iraq and Sudan. Sudan Relations with Kenya Sudan relations with Kenya started a long time ago and Kenya is known for helping Sudan sign the peace accord that was to end the Africa’s longest civil conflict in history. The signing of CPA was done between Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Sudan People’s Army (SPLM/A) and the government of the Republic of Sudan (GOS). Having facilitated the peace talks it is ironical for the international community to (a) blame Kenya for the failure to arrest President Al-Bashir during a state visit to the country, and (b) to put more pressure to Kenya to arrest Al-Bashir during an Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) meeting that was scheduled to be held in Kenya. The expectations of the international community were that Kenya could have handed over Al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Kenya was quick to say that the Al-Bashir invitation to attend promulgation ceremony of the new constitution on August 27, 2010 was a show of good neighborhood (Bargueno, 2010). All the neighboring countries were invited and Sudan was one of them. Kenya’s defense on the matter was right in many ways. If Kenya could have handed over Al-Bashir to the ICC, the country and the regional stability would have polarized. The first evidence is that Sudan is not yet stable in terms of the peace reforms. The second reason is that Al-Bashir is the sitting president and arresting him would bring instability in the country. The third reason is that most of the insurgents in Sudan are within the neighboring countries and religion extremism, for example, the presence of Al Shabaab militia in Somalia. Although the Kenya relations with Sudan have been good, there are some occasions where the relation between the two countries has gone sour. This is because of the South Sudan border killings that are linked to military weapons and the hijacking of the Ukrainian ship in 2008. Kenya has warned Sudan of sour diplomatic relations if it fails to prevent armed attacks by the military into Kenya. Kenya has maintained that South Sudan is responsible for its own security as stipulated in the peace accord (Pana, 2010). Sudan Relations with Chad Chad relations with Sudan play a vital role in ending the Darfur conflict. Both countries have been supporting rebel movements by providing materials and logical support for their success. Since 2008, there have been attacks by the rebel movements in both countries. None is willing to end the conflict. Chad relation with Sudan is seen as a big step towards ending internal conflicts in Sudan and international relations with their neighbors. On February 2010, the two leaders met in an attempt to normalize their relations. Coming into agreement may be short-lived because of several facts. Friendship between the two states largely depends on the President of Chad Deby to push Darfur rebel group Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) out of Chad back to the Sudan territory. To make such a move it will require a heavy political price by the Chadian President. The dominant ethnic group of the Zaghawan support base is the Darfur JEM and the decision to move them is likely to be resisted. Given the fragility of Chad, the Zaghawan army may continue to support the Darfur rebels. On the other hand, Sudan is also seeking military support and having the armed Chadian rebels in North Darfur is essential in countering any attack or return of the JEM rebels. However, their presence in North Darfur is raising security concerns (Hsiao, 2010). To end the bad blood between the two nations will require more than negotiations. Sudan Relations with the East Africa Community Peace in Sudan means a lot to the East African Community. A lot has been happening and in one way or another they have affected the relation between Sudan and its neighbors. Pressure has been mounted on the East African states to hand over Al-Bashir to the ICC. Meetings that are crucial to Sudan peace have become difficult to hold since the day Al-Bashir was issued with a warrant of arrest by the ICC. This means that the process of attaining peace in Sudan may take longer than expected and it may have adverse effects on her neighbors. Failure to have a successful referendum on January 2011 will greatly affect the stability of Sudan and it lead to fresh conflicts between the Southern and Northern Sudan. This may further lead to depolarization of the neighboring countries. The IGAD meeting has been postponed twice due to difficulties in getting a secure passage for the Sudan president. The meeting was convened to discuss the unification of President Al-Bashir and his Vice President Salva Kiir and the issues affecting the full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Accord. The meeting will be held in Ethiopia because Ethiopia is not a signatory to the Rome Statute that led to the formation of ICC (Pana, 2010). Sudan Relations with the African Union Members Relations with some of the African Union members have not been good since the issuing of the warrant of arrest by the ICC. Some members are bitter about the decision made by the African Union of rejecting the Al-Bashir warrant arrest. Uganda in many occasions has said it supports the ICC warrant arrest decision. Sudan on one occasion has warned Uganda of sour relations if it abides by the ICC decision. The issue arose when Uganda said it would not invite President Omar Al-Bashir to the African Union Summit that was to be held in Uganda on July 2010 (Clottey, 2010). Conflicting stances made by the African Union members may jeopardize the process of ending conflict between Northern and Southern Sudan. Other international bodies and nations like China and the Arab League are in support of African Union in rejecting the ICC warrant of arrest. They claim that the warrant of arrest will make the process of ending Darfur conflict very difficult and undermine the Comprehensive Peace Accord between the northern and southern Sudan. Conclusion Peace in Sudan is important for the country as well as the international community. Much damage has been done and there is need to find a lasting solution. The efforts to achieve peace have been made difficult by the sour relations between Sudan and other nations and international bodies. Most of the negotiations have characterized by stiff conditions and unwillingness to allow the full implementation of CPA and this has made the process of ending the conflict even more difficult. Good relations with others will greatly assist Sudan and if anything is to be achieved, the country has to do more than attaining peace. References Bargueno, D. (2010, Oct. 16). The human rights game in Kenya. Yale Journal of International Affairs. Retrieved from http://yalejournal.org/2010/10/the-human-rights-game-in-kenya/ Clottey, P. (2010, June 6). Sudan warns relations with Uganda eroding. VOANews.com. Retrieved from http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Sudan-Warns-Relations-With-Uganda-Eroding--95739089.html Dagne, T. (2010). Sudan: The crisis in Darfur and the status of the North-South peace agreement. Congressional Research Service. Hsiao, A. (2010, Feb. 17). Warming Chad-Sudan relations fragile but necessary for Darfur peace. Enough. Retrieved from http://www.enoughproject.org/blogs/warming-chad-sudan-relations-fragile-necessary-darfur-peace Oluoch, F. (2010, Oct. 22). Sudan: Obama issues tough conditions on resumption of relations. allAfrica.com. Retrieved from http://allafrica.com/stories/201010250110.html Pana. (2010, Feb. 16). South Sudan border killings linked to military weapons. Afrique en ligne. Retrieved from http://www.afriquejet.com/news/africa-news/south-sudan-border-killings-linked-to-military-weapons-2010021644200.html Pana. (2010, Nov. 22). Al-Bashir overshadows IGAD Summit on Southern Sudan vote. Afrique en ligne. 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