Danforth held meetings with Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher and the head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa. Egypt is disgruntled with the terms of the protocol, which was signed on July 20 in Machakos, Kenya and marks a breakthrough between Sudan's Government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), the southern Christian guerrilla group that has waged a 19-year-old civil war to break away from the Moslem-controlled North.
Egypt, which in the past has had strained relations with the Islamic regime in Khartoum, strongly opposes any partition of Sudan, fearing it might impact on Egypt's access to Nile basin water. Egypt was absent from the talks in Kenya leading to the signing of the protocol. Egypt and Libya were sidelined from the negotiations after their peace proposal was dropped in favor of the plan put forward by the East African Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). Nigeria, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya and Uganda are the main players in IGAD, which has been actively involved in pushing forward peace talks between Khartoum and the SPLA since 1993. Egypt and Libya put forward their own plan in 1999.
The Machakos Protocol, brokered by IGAD and supported by the United States, calls for six years of administrative self-rule and exemption from Islamic law in southern Sudan, to be followed by a referendum on secession. The Egyptian-Libyan plan advocated constitutional reform and a pluralist democracy, but without a referendum on secession. Last May, Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir and President Hosni Mubarak called for coordinating both initiatives, but the SPLA has consistently opposed any peace plan that did not include a referendum on secession.
Since then, with new involvement from Washington, the IGAD plan emerged as the main proposal for ending the brutal civil war. Sudan's vast oil reserves, located in the center of the country, increased the importance of solving the conflict. Over the last couple of years, the SPLA has focused many of its military actions against government-controlled oil wells.
Danforth said the US shared a similar viewpoint with Egypt on the need for maintaining Sudan's territorial integrity, but stressed it was important to include a referendum clause in order to reach an agreement. He said that both sides are now aware that no victory can be achieved by military means and the coming six years will be critical for long-term peace and stability.
The US still maintains economic sanctions on Sudan over its alleged links to terrorism, but US involvement in the peace initiative signals progress towards normalization of relations between the two countries. Danforth said that normal relations would hinge on peace, cooperation against terrorism and humanitarian access to conflict zones.
