ANALYSIS-Sudan sounds out northern foes, neighbours
By Christine Hauser; Reuters; May 11 , 1999
CAIRO, May 11 (Reuters) -
Sudan, Africa's biggest country, is reaching out to domestic opponents and neighbouring states in an apparent new quest for stability.
Diplomats on Tuesday linked the Islamist government's diplomatic drive to concern to safeguard oil exports due to start next month and a desire to strengthen its hand in any future peace talks with south Sudan rebels.
But they said it was not clear if Khartoum was prepared to modify its Islamist agenda or make other substantial concessions to restore multi-party rule and achieve national reconciliation.
This month Sudan held talks with Ethiopia and signed a fence-mending agreement with Eritrea, two countries it has in the past accused of supporting Sudanese rebels. Khartoum is also working to improve ties with Egypt and Uganda, diplomats say.
Khartoum newspapers said on Tuesday First Vice President Ali Osman Taha would fly to Cairo soon to meet Mohammad al-Mirghani, head of the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Sudan's powerful Parliament Speaker Hassan al-Turabi met opposition Umma Party leader Sadeq al-Mahdi in Geneva this month and said later he expected Mahdi to end his self-imposed exile.
And the government is preparing a ``national reception'' for former military leader Jaafar Nimeiri, who is planning to go home soon for the first time since his overthrow in 1985.
``The Sudan government is definitely on a diplomatic offensive,'' said a European diplomat based in Cairo.
Khartoum's apparent desire for reconciliation may reflect government weakness, rather than strength, diplomats say.
It has made little progress on the military front or in more than a year of stop-go peace talks with rebels. The economy is in tatters and oil fields in the southern Unity state have been attacked by rogue militias supposedly allied to the government.
``The Islamist government has dug itself several graves and now it is going out and trying to extinguish the big fires,'' said an African diplomat in Cairo. ``The question is, why now? And can it extinguish the little bush fires that spring up?''
Wooing northern Moslem opposition groups and their alleged backers in Ethiopia and Eritrea could be part of a strategy to secure a $1.4 billion oil project that includes a pipeline from the Unity and Heglig fields to Port Sudan on the Red Sea.
``The government is casting about for support,'' said another diplomat. ``Given the context, it's not surprising.''
Khartoum could also be trying to defuse its long-running war with the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in the south, or at least weaken SPLA links with its northern allies in the NDA.
A fourth round of peace talks between the government and the SPLA in Nairobi was postponed last month. Further delays have been reported as veteran southern politician Abel Alier pursues a solo mediation effort with Khartoum's blessing.
Alier, a member of SPLA leader John Garang's Dinka tribe, has proposed handing over the south to the SPLA for a two-year interim period before a vote to decide the future of the mainly Christian or animist south, where Islamic law is resented.
``Some say the talks in Nairobi will be crucial and so the government wants to remove opposition before then. Its strategy has always been to divide and conquer,'' said the diplomat.
``It would be strengthened if it could break the (NDA) alliance. It has been reaching out on all fronts.''
Sudan sees itself as having few friends in the seven-nation African grouping known as IGAD, which is sponsoring the talks.
``The government is trying to find mediators and allies. It would affect fighting in the east,'' said the African diplomat.
Abdon Nhial, who represents the Union of Sudan African Parties in the NDA, said the government's overtures to its northern foes were a warning shot across the SPLA's bow.
``If they win over the northern opposition, they will not need to make concessions to the south,'' he said. ``They are playing the various NDA sections against one another but I don't think they are being genuine.''
NDA Secretary-General Mubarak al-Mahdi was quoted on Tuesday by the London-based al-Hayat daily as saying he would ask NDA leaders meeting in Asmara this month to approve a proposal for opposition groups to transfer most of their activities to Sudan.
Egypt, keen to keep Sudan united, is taking a close interest in the latest political shifts. President Hosni Mubarak held talks this month with Nimeiri and Mirghani, while his foreign minister met Mahdi after his Geneva meeting with Turabi.
Kidnapped French aid worker freed by Somali group
Reuters; May 11 , 1999
MOGADISHU, May 11 (Reuters) -
A French aid worker abducted by an Ethiopian ethnic Somali rebel group was released on Monday, rebels and the aid organisation said.
The man, identified as Eric Courly, worked as a hydraulic engineer for the relief agency Action Contre la Faim (ACF), which said he was seized by the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) in the Ogaden region of southeastern Ethiopia on April 3.
The ONLF, a rebel group of ethnic Somalis fighting for Ogaden's independence from Ethiopia, tried Courly on spying charges and sentenced him to work for the group for 18 months but its leader Ali Ahmed Hussein then intervened on his behalf.
Hussein told reporters in the Somali capital Mogadishu that Courly had been handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ethiopia on Monday.
ACF confirmed Courly's release and it had not met any ONLF demands.
A second foreign aid worker, an Italian employed by the charity Terra Nuova, was freed in the southern Somali town of Afmadow on Sunday.
Abductions of foreigners are commonplace in Somalia and often follow disputes over pay.