STANFORD -- Well, we're in it now. What we do best. Diplomacy. The White House has dispatched Senator John Kerry to Sudan with a proposal for peace between the North and South. It's a giant step toward avoiding the kind of bloodshed that killed more than two million people in Sudan's previous 20-year North-South civil war, which ended only in 2005 -- and is threatening to erupt once again.
In recent months, President Barack Obama has stepped up his own involvement and that of senior figures in his administration in support of a peace strategy for Sudan. On his behalf, Kerry has delivered a package of proposals designed to break the logjam that has brought the North and South to a dangerous crossroads.
We have written a memo that spells out some of the essential elements of what a grand bargain for peace in Sudan could look like. If you're interested in the specifics of a possible peace deal -- and in actions that you can take to support it -- go to SudanActionNow.org.
There is little time to waste. On January 9, 2011, the people of Southern Sudan will vote for independence from the North, taking with them up to three-quarters of the country's known oil reserves and placing millions of civilians in the direct path of war.
The government in Khartoum (the capital in the North) is led by Omar al-Bashir, whose accomplishments, which include overseeing war crimes during the previous North-South war and engineering the atrocities in Darfur, have brought him arrest warrants for war crimes and genocide from the International Criminal Court.
And yet renewed war in Sudan is not inevitable. A complex but workable peace can be brokered if all interested parties become more deeply involved. The current moment requires robust diplomacy -- the kind that can leave a bad taste in your mouth, but that gets the job done. We believe that Kerry is a skilled emissary and can help the parties find the compromises necessary for peace.
Any agreement preventing a return to war would necessarily involve the National Congress Party, representing the North, and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, representing the South. But it would also involve the United States, whose post-referendum relationship with the two parties will have enormous influence over whether a deal gets done.
We believe that a grand bargain to lay the foundation for lasting peace between the North and South would oblige the parties to:
The US role as the invisible third party to the agreement involves a series of incentives offered to the regime in Khartoum to ensure agreement and implementation of a peace deal. In exchange for action on the North-South and Darfur peace efforts, the US would implement a clear, sequenced, and binding path to normalization of relations.
This would involve -- in order -- removal of Sudan from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, exchange of ambassadors, lifting of unilateral sanctions, and support for bilateral and multilateral debt relief, together with other economic measures by international financial institutions. Conversely, the US must be prepared to lead international efforts to impose severe consequences on any party that plunges the country back into war.
Peace and security in Darfur should be an essential benchmark for normalized relations between the US and Sudan. The Obama administration should hold firm on this through the coming rounds of negotiation, and should appoint a senior official to help coordinate US policy on Darfur in order to ensure that peace efforts there receive the same level of attention as the North-South efforts.
What is needed now is political will -- and not only in the US -- to sustain this diplomacy. The European Union and Sudan's neighbors -- in particular Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda -- will also need to play a robust role. And China's diplomacy in Sudan, where it has invested massively in developing the country's oil resources, will be a test of whether or not it intends to be a responsible stakeholder in Africa and the wider world.
Ensuring that governments work toward peace is where you come in. Keep the pressure on them. Support the peace process. Your voice can prevent a war. Not guns. Not money. Just our voices.
The way to peace in Sudan is not simple, but it is achievable. There are hard choices to be made. We can make those choices now, or we can persuade ourselves that peace is too hard or too complex, and then look on resignedly from the sidelines as hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, and children needlessly die. It's up to us.
George Clooney is an actor and co-founder of the NGO Not On Our Watch. John Prendergast is co-founder of the Enough Project and co-author of The Enough Moment: The Fight to End Human Rights Crimes in Africa.
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If people want to publish articles on how to resolve conflict (or any other article) they can get published at http://www.triond.com/rw/280867
When people post to the Yahoo Group they can mention the website of their published articles on conflict resoluton and so on.
Regarding the aspect of vote rigging in Africa, people can read the article, http://www.bukisa.com/articles/378592_vote-rigging for a possible solution.
Eddie Miller (Swayseeker).
This bit is quite interesting because i also believe that the US have a few Omar al-Bashirs or War Criminals of their own that should be dealt with by the ICC.
Many Iraqis (men, women and children) have been slaughtered and their resources plundered (Haliburton) for really no apparent reason other then there were invisible WMD.
Iraq under Saddam was probably not easy for most but compared to what the average Iraqi citisen has to deal with now im sure they would take him back in a heartbeat.
The US did not bring democracy to Iraq infact the only thing they have to look forward to now is more civil war and plundering by Oil Companies.
I know i veered off of the path here but i find it rather hypocrytical to preach about other countries like Sudan, when a country like Iraq continues to suffer through no fault of their own at the hands of the worlds greatest Empire.
I am not sure of the rules here about promoting a film here on hoffpo but I hope the moderators here will make an exception for something like this.
The movie is called “The Devil Came on Horseback” 2007.
Another one I like is “God Grew Tired of Us: The Story of Lost Boys of Sudan)
They are both now on Netflix
Exception films, exception stories, please spread them.
Keep up the good fight George & John! Thank you!
Though I don't speak for HP policies, I've seen that referals are allowed.
I saw two films made about Rwanda, and I agree it's important that people open their eyes to see the extent of suffering in the world--much of it needless suffering.
Since I get daily reports from IRIN and other news sources on trials, tribulations, food/water crises, and other humanitarian concerns worldwide, I'm aware of some of the problems and atrocities occurring daily. We see pictures of starving children and refugee camps, but most Americans can't seem to relate to it for various reasons. That needs to change, for our own sakes as well as for others' sakes.
Again, thanks for the film recommendations.
Your public library should have these - if not, request they purchase them. My thanks to all
the caring people responding to this story.
Agreed, but the only thing 'obliging' them is their own conscience; I wouldn't hope for much there. Sanctions, I suspect, matter little to the people who perpetuate the suffering.
And the United States can't afford too many carrots to foreign dictators.
Somalia made it abundantly clear that intervening with ground forces is a non-starter.
There's one alternative left, but I don't think it is palatable at this point in America's history or of this presidency.
Sudan's partition is a western dream, but could become an African nightmare, since the war between South and North has been fueled for more than 20 years by the Brits and at this time lacks any precondition apart foreign wills, up to now is also unpredictable to foresee wether minorities will find a safe heaven in the new South or else
Film star George Clooney was recently honored for his humanitarian efforts during the Ripple of Hope awards. The event was put on by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights. http://www.newslook.com/videos/267224-clooney-receives-humanitarian-honors?autoplay=true