SHRO-Cairo Report

October 31, 2001

The Sudan Peace Summit

Nashville, the capital city of the State of Tennessee witnessed a major event on October 28, 2001. Many Sudanese met at the Holiday Inn to participate in the Sudan Peace Summit which was sponsored by the USA PanAfrica and the African Chamber of Commerce.

Among the participants were the Sudanese elderly of Nashville, Mr. Joseph Felmon Majok, Commander Chimjok, and the SPLM Tennessee Chapter's Chairperson, Mr. Suliman Bakhiet. The majority of the audience was young people, including William Ajang, the Sudanese Community Chairperson, Albino Gur Maror, Representative of the Sudanese Community Task Force, and many others.

Dr. Leonard Madu, the PanAfrica Chairperson, introduced the speakers.

Ezekiel Gatkuoth, SPDF Representative Washington D.C. said, "The South Sudanese are capable of anything, be it leadership of the Sudan or communal wise. The only thing we are lacking is unity. Martin Luther King said, ‘Unity is the great need of the hour. And if we are united we can get many of the things that we not only desire but which we justly deserve.’ We can win this war if we are, in the first place united under clear political objective principles." Mr. Gatkuoth made the point that, "The South-South Dialogue is desperately needed, The Wunlit agreement between Nuer and Dinka in 1998, the Kisumu peace conference in June 23rd 2001 together with the Linkages [Conference] too are the signs of our unity." The SPDF speaker appreciated the Nigerian people "for their role in attempting to resolve this problem. In 1993 and 1994, they have tried to end this conflict of ours but failed because of the intransigence of the government in Khartoum."

Dr. Amadu, the Chairperson of the Conference, called upon Dr. Mahgoub El-Tigani, a human rights activist, to address himself to the Conference. The speaker mentioned that the Government of Sudan is not qualified to make peace in Sudan because it is a terrorist regime, in essence. The unity of the South is a fundamental goal to bring about symmetrical negotiation between the North and South. All Sudanese partners must establish political unity on a firm basis of democracy. At this particular time, the southerners appear as better candidates than northerners to lead a consistent life of democracy by exercising the right of self-determination. The success of this national goal will be a good model for the whole country because southerners are less influenced by the rigid indoctrination that the northerners have been subjected to, under the NIF terrorist rule and the other conservative groups. The era is open for the South Sudanese active participation and leadership, if they unite across these lines.

The next speaker, Mrs. Riek Machar’s American wife, emphasized the need to support the powerless refugees who attend her church in Nashville, including many southerners. She further emphasized the process of peace-making between all Sudanese, especially the southerners as a critical step to solve the crisis of Sudan. She emphasized that the Sudanese know better than any other one how to deal with their own problems. However, they have to act with democracy towards one another. Mr. Joseph Lagu welcomed Mrs. Machar's speech affirming that she did become one of the South Sudanese as she honestly struggled with them under all difficult conditions, including the hazards of life in the present time even before she became the wife of a southeren leader.

Dr. Amadu reiterated the idea that democracy will allow all Sudanese to share the governance of the country on equal basis, regardless of any discrimination. The conference chairperson then introduced Lieutenant General Joseph Lagu for the keynote speech.

Mr. Lagu said, "as I look at the situation in the Sudan, I find that the war is being sustained by power-seeking politicians in the North who lack cohesion due to power struggle among them, one group aims to topple the other. In the Sudan, the liberation movement broke up on ethnic lines, with factional leaders competing for control. The masses of the Sudanese people stand perplexed. They do not want the war to continue. I could see the resentment to the war clearly at the Preliminary national Reconciliation Conference, convened in Khartoum by the Government in October 2000. Mr. Lagu concluded in this statement, "South-South dialogue presents opportunities to get the various sections of South Sudanese communities and liberation factions, hitherto at variance, together. I feel it may lead to a measure of understanding between them, and finally they may attain a consensus. I maintain this as a motto. Unity must be attained progressively. From family onwards, up to the level of the nation."

The subsequent discussion as opened by Dr. Amadu incited a strong confrontation between Mr. Lagu and many participants that repeatedly asked him: why he joined the government initiative, instead of joining Riek Machar and John Garang?

Lt. General (Retd.) Joseph Lagu explained that he had traveled to meet with both leaders before he came to the US. He missed Riek because he was not available to meet with him at the time of his visit; as well, he had a casual meeting with Garang in Kenya that did not last, as expected.

Mr. Albino Gur Maror, Representative of the Sudanese Community Task Force, distributed a statement in the conference. The statement said, "If General Lagu is sincerely seeking through his new movement to bring about the peace we all need, then he should ask the government that delegated him to allow the people of southern Sudan to exercise that right of self-determination and should help to unify the Southerners to achieve their objective in the war."

Many participants shared with Mr. Maror his thought.

It was interesting to note that General Lagu, the 69-years leader, acted with immense patience and tolerance towards the wave of protest of the conference participants who strongly insisted, Mr. Lagu should have discussed the issue with John Garang and Riak Mashar before his participation in the Nashville Conference. Many participants protested Lagu's "collaboration with the Government of Sudan" - an allegation that he vehemently rejected saying that he abandoned working with GoS in any official capacity since his last appointment as an ambassador in the late 1980s.

Mr. Lagu announced that the conference "is part of the initiative" that he personally pursued with the Nigerian President Obasanjo to invite the Southern leaders to meet with them (Lagu and Obasanjo) in Abuja (November 12-17, 2001) to seriously consider the need to establish a firm South unity for peace. He further affirmed, "There is also a need to establish North-North unity via democratic dialogue so that the unified North would negotiate in a better way with the unified South."

Mr. Amadu ascertained that, together with all People of the Sudan, the Nigerian Presidency is deeply concerned with the peaceful settlement of the crisis of Sudan via unity of the South as a desirable step at this stage. President Obasanjo has consistently offered his personal care and blessing to the November upcoming meeting, that should help to accomplish this important goal.

The Nashville Meeting demonstrated a basic fact: namely that, southerners tend to exercise a great deal of democracy when they meet with one another in a democratic forum, despite the fact that the differences they suffer are not yet resolved.

The unity of the South should be encouraged by the North as well as the International Community to unify both the South and the North as the best option towards the establishment of Sudanese national unity on the basis of the full exercise of the right to self determination, democracy, and the other international human rights norms.

This goal-achievement will only take place when the North-South dialogue successfully realizes the need to make of our country a free, peaceful, and progressive Sudan, instead of the ongoing non-democratic single-candidate-one party-presidential system of Omer Al-Bashir.