April, 2003

Negotiations on Marginalised Territories in Sudan: a parallel track to IGAD

Hani Raslan

One of the most controversial issues to have emerged in the negotiations between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement -SPLM- and the government is the status of three marginalised central territories: the Nuba Mountains, Abyei and the Blue Nile. The problem grew with the preparation for the third round of talks in Machakos, Kenya, at the beginning of the year and it now threatens the whole negotiation process. This crisis was worsened by the bias of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development -IGAD- towards the SPLM in this matter. Although the IGAD initiative was supposed to focus on the south, the Sudanese government delegate was surprised at the start of the second round of the Machakos talks, on 1 September 2002, to find that IGAD had submitted papers on the SPLM demands to tackle the future of the three regions.

The Sudanese government refused to examine the issue in the framework of IGAD, perceiving that it should be tackled on another track. Accordingly, the second round of the Machakos negotiations focused on the distribution of authority and resources in accordance with the framework agreement. The round ended with the signing of a memorandum stipulating that the third round start from where the second finished.
The IGAD secretariat, at the demand of the SPLM, postponed the third round of negotiations from 6 January to 15 January 2003, without any previous consultation with Khartoum and without any explanation. The Sudanese government responded by refusing to attend, stating that it would participate only if the negotiations continued from the point reached on 18 November 2002.

IGAD thus proposed a compromise, setting 22 January 2003 for the resumption of the third round, to start from where the previous negotiations left off. The condition was that the negotiations include a symposium for an unofficial discussion of the three disputed territories with government representatives. The symposium was held in the form of a workshop with the participation of experts from Norway, Switzerland and Britain.
Abyei, the Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile are significant as they constitute a dividing line between the north and south of Sudan. This division is ethnic rather than geographical and, as such, qualifies the regions as a melting pot between the north and south. With the passing of time, the general lack of resources and political negligence saw these regions become marginalised and isolated.

The SPLM now seeks to use these regions in its conflict with the government. The movement's leader, John Garang, has said that these regions are not tied to the south geographically and that their only connection with the SPLM is political. However, he insists on discussing their future in the negotiations, and has called for their inhabitants' right to determine their future in the framework of the country after a six-year transitional period. He also insists that the relation between state and religion be one of the main items in the negotiations on the future of these regions.

This means that Garang wants to apply the principles of the Machakos agreement signed on 20 July 2002 to these regions - a demand rejected absolutely by the Sudanese government. The SPLM seeks to turn these regions into independent areas, or at least have them distinct from the north, in order that they might later serve as a political bridge for movement towards the north.

In the context of Garang's policy towards the three regions, a conference was held from 12 to 15 February 2003 in Kauda, in the Nuba Mountains. One of the main resolutions to come out of the conference was authorisation for the SPLM to raise the issue of the Nuba Mountains as an indispensable part of its policy, which constitutes a new tactic in Garang's handling of the negotiations. The conference, though, was run on markedly racial lines, confined to the citizens of the Nuba Mountains, ethnically Nubians, and ignoring other ethnic groups.

Garang held a similar conference in the Blue Nile territory and declared that he would call the region 'Al-Funj territory,' after the name of an old kingdom in Sudan. The conference similarly authorised Garang to speak on behalf of the Ingessana region, which has the same demands as the Nuba Mountains.

On 4 March 2003, the first round of negotiations was held between the SPLM and the Sudanese government outside the IGAD framework. The government participated with two delegations, a negotiating one and a consultative one, including people from the three regions. The negotiations started without prior agreement on an agenda, which widened the gap of differences between the two sides. The SPLM insisted on discussion of self-determination and the relation between religion and state, issues which the government considers part of the IGAD framework. The government suggested that negotiations be channelled through three independent committees, one for each region. It refused the attendance of supervisors from Uganda and Eritrea, whose participation in previous negotiations due to their membership in the IGAD agricultural organisation does not, in its opinion, qualify them to join negotiations under the sponsorship of Kenya.

The negotiations started after both sides agreed on a Kenyan proposal to confine the participation to citizens of the three regions on the level of the government and the SPLM. This took place through three main committees, with the agenda of each focusing on three main items: the roots of the problem in each region, identification of the nature of the problem, and tackling the proposed solutions. The first round was successful with regard to the Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile. Discussions on Abyei, however, failed to get off the ground as a result of differences over the region's borders. While the SPLM considers the region to be comprised of the town of Abyei and its surroundings, home to mainly the Dinka Ngok tribe, the Sudanese government believes that the borders of the region, on the historical level, go further, and include many other tribes.