Sudan Guest Blogs: Conclusions (3/3)
By Lawrence T. Peter, Winds of Change Guest Blogger
Lawrence T. Peter is a former Naval Intelligence officer (ret. 1998). A final assignment with the Naval Special Warfare Development Group brought him back to America in 1994, after 10 previous years overseas in Panama, England and Italy with detours to Gulf War I et. al.-- -- --In 1999, he became Director of the Fusion Centre (politically acceptable term for an information collection, analysis and dissemination effort) of the OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission. That experience led to his recent Sudan assignment, as part of a group of international monitors in an effort called the Joint Military Commission Nuba Mountains (JMC). Now that he has returned, Lawrence Peter's analysis and travelogues are a Winds of Change exclusive!
Recently, I sent Lawrence T. Peter a letter with some questions. Not least of which was, what's up with the recent government offensive if the country is supposed to be headed toward peace? Not to mention the August 1 Winds of Change Daily Report, which covered a massive air and ground campaign that supposedly left over 1,000 dead. He replied:
28 Aug 02
VB, VAHi Joe,
What can I say. . . (What follows are my opinions. My opinions are based on a limited, but first-hand exposure to the country and its people and some independent study. I am no expert.) These are strongly entrenched interests with a lot of power on the table. Any civil war that has been going on for twenty or so years isn't going to go quickly or quietly into the night. In Sudan, at the tactical level, there is an incredible willingness to see the peace through. Anyone and everyone from the Sudanese Army I talked with gave me repeated (and I believe sincere) assurances that they wanted peace. I rode on a plane next to the former commander of the Sudanese Army, he was particularly proud that there hadn't been any civil war in the Nuba when he was in charge. Similarly, the rebels (Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement) personnel I spoke with also expressed (what I think was) a sincere desire to see an end to the war.
The U.S. and the other internationals are taking a carrot and stick approach toward Sudan. 'If you agree to what we stipulate, you will be taken of the bad-guy list (the seven sisters of terrorism), economic aid will flow in to your country and your reputation among civilized nations will be rehabilitated. If you don't, we'll continue to make matters difficult. Areas where you must demonstrate progress include stopping the civil war, stopping slavery ( a whole separate discussion), stopping atrocities against civilians (bombing--again an aspect of the civil war), and stopping support for terrorism).'
The government has made some efforts. They are agreeing to a range of activities, from the JMC which I was a part of to another mission beginning in Southern Sudan to a range of contacts at the government to government level. There is much in the open press about how the Sudanese authorities tried to had over Osama Been Laden to President Clinton, as well as provide other useful information.
One of the biggest problems westerners face is that we template our organizations and societal responses on other countries. Sudan is not America, nor is it Canada or England or a host of other countries. The government is dominated by several families, these families come from a minority ethnicity, they are Arabic, and the government uses the Muslim faith as a means to force unity and compliance with its laws (and Sudan is supposed to be a country of Sharia law). On the other hand there is a rebel movement which is composed mainly of Christians (predominantly Catholics) and Animists. When I first went to Sudan I went there under the impression it was a civil war where the Muslims in power were fighting the Christian rebels. While such a statement is 'correct' in the gross sense, it misses the point of the civil war almost in its entirety. The war is really between the Arabs and the black Africans. You will find Muslims among the rebels as you will find Christians among the Government side. Since there was much evangelizing during the colonial period, many of the black Africans of Sudan are Christian. A number of tribes are also involved in the running of the country. In many cases, laws are based upon tradition. (All of this is discussed at great length by many scholars. I am just painting with the broadest of brush-strokes.)
The government of Sudan seems to be responding (if you can talk to the right faction at the right time of the day. . .). There are problems with the rebels as well. There's not much trust on either side and really, that should come as no surprise. If the genie of peace can be coaxed out of his bottle for just long enough, there is a good chance the peace might hold. It is like the Alcoholics Anonymous, one day at a time. I may be a fool, but I am optimistic. The international aid agencies (OXFAM, EU, IRC, etc) are beginning many relief projects in the Nuba--even as I write this. People want to eat, want to drink clean water and be able to plant their crops.
I guess my bigger concern is ensuring that the relief successfully transitions into self-sufficiency and not dependency.
All the best,
LawrenceHe then followed that up with this tip:
"Just watched a very interesting and, from my perspective, balanced report about Sudan on the American PBS (public broadcast service) nightly news, the Newshour with Jim Leher.... It is a good report and includes an interview with Sen (retired) Danforth.... I don't know if you caught one of Gwen Iffil's last questions about the slavery buy-back... where Sen Danforth discusses the buy-back slavery program. Just so."I'm a conservative, Commander, so the idea that you get more of the behaviours you reward, leading to unintended consequences... of course they're growing the slavery industry this way. But it's a good point, oft not grasped and so worth making.
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