SUPPORT FOR PEACE IN SUDAN
A Proposal by Canadian Friends of Sudan to
Mr. Nelson Mandela.
SUMMARY
In the difficult struggle for peace among the many peoples of Africa, Canadian Friends of Sudan (CFS) is urging you, Mr. Mandela, to focus your already considerable efforts toward lasting peace and prosperity for the people of Sudan, on the following urgent priorities. We ask you to use your wisdom, influence and diplomatic experience with others in the international community for:
1. An immediate cessation of aerial bombardment of civilians in Sudan and the establishment of a cease-fire and no-fly zone. The war, especially the bombing, affects women and children most severely;
2. A cessation of oil exploration and exploitation until peace is achieved;
3. An end to Khartoum's bans on relief supplies and assistance;
4. Effective guarantees of religious freedom for all citizens;
5. An end to slavery and the provision of welfare support to former slaves;
6. Establishment of the right to self-determination;
7. Promoting unity of purpose among the war victims.
Details …
SUPPORT FOR PEACE IN SUDAN
A Proposal by Canadian Friends of Sudan to
Mr. Nelson Mandela
INTRODUCTION
Sudan, Africa's largest country, is experiencing the world's longest running and most brutal war. Since Sudan's independence in 1956, the country has been ruled by Muslims of Arab origin who live primarily in the northern part of Sudan. Successive governments have subjected the indigenous African
people, who are of Christian or traditional belief, to second-class citizenship.
Sudan, Africa's largest country, is experiencing the world's longest running and most brutal war. Since Sudan's independence in 1956, the country has been ruled by Muslims of Arab origin who live primarily in the northern part of Sudan. Successive governments have subjected the indigenous African
people, who are of Christian or traditional belief, to second-class citizenship.
The current phase of the war has run without a pause for 18 years. It is waged primarily between forces of the Government of Sudan (GOS) and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). However, there are southern rebel factions and northern opposition groups. The war has caused the suffering and death of millions in the Sudan. The recent escalation of the conflict by the Khartoum regime threatens even greater destruction of lives, property and cultures.
Canadian Friends of Sudan (CFS) is working for an end to the war and a just resolution based on addressing the root causes of the conflict. CFS is requesting you, Mr. Mandela, to help bring lasting peace and prosperity in the country. Our primary objective here is to provide background information, policy alternatives, advocacy platforms and the assurance that your contribution will make a very significant difference in the lives of all Sudanese. For sustainable harmony and prosperity in the Sudan to be realized, we would like you to consider advocating the following goals:
STOP AERIAL BOMBARDMENT OF CIVILIANS AND INITIATE A CEASEFIRE
The urgent need to protect civilian populations and civilian institutions, including schools, churches, medical clinics, feeding centers, open-air markets, landing strips, etc. would be met if the government of Sudan ceased its aerial bombardment of civilians. Mr. Mandela, we request you to advocate for the imposition of a no-fly zone on the areas of conflict in South Sudan, Nuba Mountains and Ingessena Hills, for this is the first and most urgent step in stopping the scourge of government-conducted terror against the people.
An end to the bombing of civilian targets would promote a political climate conducive to negotiation. At the very least, imposition of a no-fly zone over the principal areas of conflict will act as a sign of the determination of the international community to bring an end to the civil war. The imposition of a no-fly zone will also signal to the Khartoum regime that the time for declarations and condemnations is over; and that practical measures are what count.
A no-fly zone will help create an immediate lessening of hostilities. This will, in itself, save countless lives, allow the return of refugees, and allow humanitarian relief to reach all areas of the war zone. Once the no-fly zone is in place, a comprehensive cease-fire could and should be implemented.
STOP OIL EXPLORATION AND EXPLOITATION
We also ask for your support in preventing the Government of Sudan's use of recently acquired riches from oil to escalate the conflict. We ask you to urge corporations, investment firms and other economic entities in North America, Europe and Asia, to cease profiting from oil riches which are exploited at the expense of millions of central and southern Sudanese citizens. The exploitation of these resources only serves to fuel Khartoum's war machine and prolong the gross violation of fundamental human rights.
Oil exploration and exploitation are serving to justify ethnic cleansing on a mass scale in areas of northern Bahr al-Ghazal, Southern Blue Nile, Upper Nile, and the Nuba Mountains. This has led to the displacement of entire populations. We are calling for a complete halt to the exploration, extraction, production and sale of Sudanese oil until there is a peace settlement in the whole country.
As with the campaign to end apartheid in South Africa, the international economic interests that, wittingly or unwittingly, invest in injustice and genocide must be confronted if the conflict is to end. We believe that the wealth derived from Sudan’s natural resources must be used to benefit the people who live on the land, not to empower an unprincipled elite to engineer the people’s dispossession and destruction.
END KHARTOUM'S BANS ON RELIEF
The use of food as a 'weapon' of war by the GOS, and the food shortages and outbreaks of famine that have come in its wake, have been perhaps the single most devastating aspect of the Sudan conflict. This use of food as a weapon has resulted in the deaths of countless thousands, the internal displacement of millions and irreparable damage to the health, particularly, of women and children.
Much of the tragedy in the Sudan is man-made, engineered by the GOS through the manipulation of humanitarian aid, arbitrary flight bans, and the imposition of relief embargoes on populations in 'liberated' or non-government-controlled areas, particularly Southern Sudan, Nuba Mountains
and Ingessena Hills.
We would like you, Mr. Mandela, to insist that food and other relief supplies be made available to populations in any and all areas of Sudan where there is need, particularly in famine-affected areas. In
addition, the Government-sponsored raids, which are aimed at burning crops, fields and food stores, particularly in 'vulnerable' districts, must be stopped.
ENSURE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM FOR ALL CITIZENS
Religious persecution stands at the center of the tragedy of modern Sudan, and is one of the principle causes of the war. We would like you to stand with us in our demand that the right to freedom of religion; with the right to life, the foundation of all human rights, become a legal and constitutional
reality in Sudanese life.
The call for religious freedom is at the heart of the political reforms that will be required to end Sudan's long nightmare of war and destruction. Khartoum's decades-old assertion that Sudan is an Arab, Muslim country and its campaign to realize, by force if necessary, the dream of one nation, one
culture, one religion, has deprived millions of non-Arab, non-Muslim Sudanese of their most basic rights as citizens and as cultures.
As Eastern Africa's Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD Declaration of Principles) recognizes: Sudan will not resolve its fundamental problems, nor secure a lasting peace without firmly establishing in law a constitutional separation of religion and state. In a country of nearly unparalleled cultural and religious diversity, Shari'a (Islamic law) cannot function as the source of law and public policy as currently imposed.
In the short term, this means that we urge you to oppose not only the infamous Missionary Societies Act of 1962, but also its various modifications and revisions, most of which have only made the situation of non-Muslims worse. A fundamentally discriminatory law cannot be 'modified' or ameliorated; it must be abrogated in totality.
It should also be stated that we recognize that the Islamist ideology undergirding the current Khartoum regime is a travesty of normative Islam and the views of many Sudanese and other Muslims. For your information, Canadian Friends of Sudan, like many other organizations working for peace in the
Sudan, has Muslims in its membership.
STOP SLAVERY AND PROMOTE THE WELFARE OF FORMER SLAVES
Slavery, especially the abduction of women and children is yet another weapon in Khartoum's campaign of 'total' war against the populations of Southern Sudan, Nuba Mountains and Ingessena Hills. We urge you to condemn and call for an end to this heinous violation of human rights, and for the care and education of the thousands of former, or 'redeemed' slaves, especially those who live in camps and settlements.
It should be noted that the GOS helped revive this horrific trade on a mass scale, armed the principal perpetrators, and continues to employ slave taking as part and parcel of its strategy of war.
Khartoum targets women and children, who are the most vulnerable members of the community, knowing that in doing so, it strikes at the very heart of the resistance to its policies, and at the morale, indeed, the very future of the communities against which it wages its campaigns.
THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION
The right to self-determination is very important to the resolution of the Sudan conflict. It is a fact to which all parties to the conflict agree. It also forms part of the IGAD Declaration of Principles. We would like you, Mr. Mandela, to underline the importance of this principle, and urge the international community to ensure its implementation.
Advocating self-determination does not imply support for the independence or secession of Southern Sudan. It recognizes that the citizens of Sudan, who, in differing ways, have suffered so deeply as a result of the conflict, should play their rightful part in deciding the shape of a future Sudan.
The recognition of self-determination as an essential element in the search for peace in the Sudan, and its reflection in virtually all Sudan peace building initiatives, including the IGAD and Egypt-Libya peace program proposals is encouraging. Attempts to de-emphasize this principle would be tantamount to destroying the road to lasting peace in Sudan.
UNITY OF PURPOSE AMONG THE WAR VICTIMS
The GOS has planted seeds of discord and encourages hatred and divisions among indigenous Sudanese people, particularly among the people of South Sudan. This divide and rule approach has led to the emergence of numerous rebel factions and divergent political opinions. These matters have made
peace a very distant prospect at the expense of innocent civilians.
Due to the difficult living conditions for civilians in the Sudan, the government is also now in the business of sponsoring militia groups against their own people. Canadian Friends of Sudan would like to point out that the GOS and oil companies working in the Sudan do pay large sums of money to
people, including victims of the war as part of their public relations machine.
We ask you to support the call for a common voice to be heard from victims of Sudan's brutal war. This involves encouraging all leaders of military factions and political organizations to embark on dialogue toward building this common voice. This can be best started with a strong message to leaders of the main opposition groups.
CONSIDERATION OF URGENT ACTION
The emergence of a bipartisan political climate in the US has made Sudan and a negotiated settlement of the war a foreign policy priority. This became clear following the passing of the Sudan Peace Act (copies available at CFS). We ask you to encourage the Government of South Africa to become a more active and dedicated Sudan peace partner as well. Resolving the Sudanese crisis now will stop it from further spilling into other countries, including South Africa.
To advance the implementation of our recommendations, we urge that you consider convening a strategic working group on the Sudan at the earliest possible opportunity. The task of this strategic working group would be to develop precise goals and objectives for each of the above recommendations with oversight from yourself.
To date, Khartoum continues to bombard and enslave civilians, destroy their most precious institutions and remove them from oilfields by killing them or driving them away into uncertainty. These barbaric acts of terror need to be brought squarely to the attention of the United Nations, the European Union and
the African Union or Organization of African Unity, Canada and the United States. We urge you to set up a network of contacts, who should work for the immediate establishment of national or regional Sudan Peace Action committees.
We ask you, Mr. Mandela, to speak to Canadians, especially to the Government of Canada, about the fact that the Canadian flag is stained with Sudanese blood. We want the government to denounce Canada's Talisman Energy Inc. for financing the new weaponry that Khartoum has, and for ignoring the suffering of innocent civilians. When Talisman Energy pulls out of the Sudan, the civilized world can then face the Malaysian and Chinese companies operating in the Sudan.
The impact of the war on the people of Southern Sudan, Nuba Mountains and Ingessena Hills has reached unacceptable proportions. Women and children bear the worst impact of the war. Many Sudanese women are raped, enslaved, made widows or single parents. Children are also killed or forced to the frontline, where they die or get killed. We urge you to have a special interest in rescuing and rehabilitating these defenseless women and children.
In Canada, South Africa, the United States and the rest of the civilized world, Muslims are allowed to worship freely. We would like you to help ask leaders of Islam, the GOS and its surrogates why there is cruel imposition of Islamic laws on Christians and people of other faiths in the Sudan. In essence, we would like you to join us in calling for harmony, freedom, democracy and dignity of human life in Sudan.
Finally, since it is well known that the NIF has supported Osama bin Laden and other Muslim terrorists in the past, it should now be clear to everyone what kind of people they are. The embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, as well as the previous assassination attempts linked to Sudan should also be
reasons to stop the Islamic fundamentalist government from pursuing what it is doing. We should no longer be the voice crying in the wilderness. We would ask you to communicate this, on a serious note, to your network of African, American, Canadian and European diplomats, as well as other
officials worldwide.
Thank you.
©Canadian Friends of Sudan
415 MacLaren Avenue, Suite 2108,
Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2C8;
Phone: (613) 567-0549
Fax: (613) 567-0549
P r i n c i p a l C o n t a c t s
©Justin Laku, Technician,
Roger Stone, Engineer,
Moses Aligo, Producer,
Colin Stuart, Professor,
cdstuart@sympatico.ca
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