People-to-People
peace talks
Status report
January 2, 2000
Wal
Duany has been in the Upper Nile Region of southern Sudan since mid-October
helping the New Sudan Council of Churches facilitate the regional grassroots
peace and self-governance process. The goal of the peace movement is to help the
people in each of the three southern regions to resolve their differences and to
organize into peaceful, self-governing units. Elected representatives from the
three regions will then meet to consolidate southern unity with the hope of
entering into peace negotiations with the Government of Sudan.
The
regional Peace and Governance Conference in Waat, Upper Nile, lasting from late
October to mid-November, brought to a head the frustrations southerners have
been facing because of the Government of Sudan’s violations of the Khartoum
Peace Agreement negotiated by southern rebel leader Riek Machar in 1997. Machar
had negotiated the agreement with the hope of linking with the Government of
Sudan to bring peace from inside. Instead, the government used the agreement to
restrict Machar and his followers to Khartoum, neutralize the rebel armies in
Upper Nile, and gain access to the oil fields in Bentiu.
Prior
to the Waat Conference, Machar told Wal during a meeting in Khartoum that he
supported the people-to-people peace process, but could not leave Khartoum to
help. In the weeks following Waat, sixteen militia commanders from Machar’s
SSDF switched sides and announced that they would fight against the government
alongside the SPLA. Click
here for a more detailed account of this defection.
“The
people-to-people peacemaking process in the south,” says Wal Duany, “is
awakening people in both the north and the south to the absurdity of the
political situation that they have been in for years.”
That
political situation is changing rapidly in both the north and south. Turabi’s
overt move to shut-out Beshir was motivated in part by Beshir’s successful
courtship of Mahdi’s wing of the northern opposition and in part by the
prospect of southern unity. In general, northerners believe that granting
autonomy to the south will probably lead to secession, something the northern
opposition generally does not approve. In addition, because the southern
grassroots peace movement is primarily a Christian-led movement, radical Muslims
perceive southern unity as a threat to the Islamic State.
Among
moderates within both the northern government and northern opposition there is a
struggle over democratization. Moderates, including President Beshir, are
willing to recognize the south and work with southerners. However, it is not
known how far moderates are willing to go in relinquishing control of the south
and its valuable natural resources. For now, President Bashir has stopped
Turabi’s take-over by dissolving the parliament and declaring a state of
emergency. But events are developing fast and no one knows what will happen
next.
The
events at Waat have taken the people-to-people peace process to a higher level.
The commanders of the new Upper Nile Provisional Military Command Council (UNPMCC)
met with leaders of the peace process to discuss the formation of a political
body. The political body would build upon the broad-base of the southern peace
movement and would build the foundation for a unified southern government.
The
leaders at the meeting pressed Wal to take the responsibility for developing the
political body. This will include writing a constitution and organizing
supporting civil structures. Wal, who prefers to work behind the scenes,
consulted first with the leaders of the New Sudan Council of Churches. They felt
that the step toward self-governance is the natural result of the
people-to-people peace process and encouraged Wal to go ahead.
Wal’s
new responsibility as chairman of the development committee will reduce the
amount of time he can devote to his role in the people-to-people process. He
will continue to act as a consultant on self-governance and to generate support
for the peace process among the Sudanese, both at home and abroad. The end-goal
is to unify the south through democratic self-governance and then to negotiate
peace with the north.
As
far as the Government of Sudan is concerned, Wal, as a force for southern unity,
has become a threat. We need to pray for Wal’s safety and that God would grant
him wisdom for the task ahead.
Because
Wal will be in Sudan for months at a time, he has chosen to resign from the
Board of Directors of South Sudanese Friends International. In his new role in
the peace process, Wal believes that he will be in a better position to help
SSFI fulfill its mission of sharing the love
of Jesus Christ with the people of southern Sudan in a way that leads them
towards peaceful and self-reliant living from the grassroots level, so that
available resources will meet the needs of their communities..
During his brief return to the US, during the first week of January Wal briefed the US State Department and other government officials in Washington, D.C. on the situation in southern Sudan. He returns to Africa today (Jan 6, 2000)