ThePeaceQuest

OBAMA, THE SUDAN & Darfur: A Time for Peace and Justice!?
An update.

[Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere]
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

[None of you truly believes, if he does not love for his brother or sister, what he loves for himself], Prophet Mohamed {Peace Be Upon Him} (PBUH.)

[And you shall know the truth; and the truth will set you free], The Holly Bible.


Dr. Hashim El-Tinay *,

WASHINGTON, DC:
May 13, 2009



President Obama's historic election, seems to reflect, in my view, a move towards a popular consensus, at long last, that American foreign policy in the 21st century needs to be be more glocal (global and local). After the Bush Iraq war and his open ended war against terrorism, and the ugly American image that resulted from it, the majority of American citizens are hoping for a shift in American foreign policy away from war-mongering to peacemaking.



Ironically, Bush's only peace achievement was supporting Sudan's quest for peace, by brokering the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between North and South. It has become a foundation for Sudanese peace. It was followed by the Asmara Peace Agreement with the East of Sudan, and the ongoing Abuja Darfur Peace Agreement, and the Doha initiative in Qatar to complete it and put an end to war there, once and for all. All these peace efforts promise a new era for Sudan, if it can be stabilized and extended to solve the remaining regional conflicts within the country.

Whence the welcome of the positive remarks made by Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Congress's Foreign relations Committe after his recent visit to Sudan. President OBAMA's Special Envoy General Scott Gration's statment after his 2 visits to Sudan that the US will now focus to facilitate a political settelment and deliver peace within 6 months to the people of Darfur and the people of Sudan, is a signal of a move in the right direction, to finally get things done.

The choice of General Scott Gration as President Obama's special envoy to Sudan and his positive public statements during his two Sudan trips and at his Washington, April 29, 2009 NGO briefing at the U.S. State Department go in our direction. They are a welcome departure from the Washington's habitual feel good "regime change" and "failed state" rhetoric of the past, which made America, in essence, part of the problem.

However, we must be aware that General Scott Gration is walking on political minefields because of the tarnished image and the horrendous portrayal of the Sudanese Government as a bunch of ruthless killers and rapists, he is treading very cautiously. That is why he needs our support and encouragement. We have proven that through what we said at that meeting that checked and balanced the Save Darfur alarmist status quo voice. He was clearly relieved that he had supporters in the audience who were credible and strong advocates for peace in Sudan.

The people of Darfur, like the silent majority of most people in the world, share President OBAMA's vision of hope, are inspired by his journey and are ready for a change. Since their country's independence from Britain in 1956, the Sudanese people have experienced three governments based on multiparty consultations and three based on military-one party arrangements. In their humble ways, they have never tired working for a change they can believe in.


We are aware that this is a brave and an audacious undertaking with geostrategic implications to both the US and Sudan, a microcosm of both the African, Muslim and Arab worlds. But we are also aware that the new American leadership is uniquely qualified, through its vision, which we share, bravery, candor and thoughtful dialogue between Washington and Khartoum,is the shortest way to get there.

Politicking and politics as usual aside, this is, at the end of the day, the best way to finally address the root causes of this tragedy, through talking things frankly and honestly. For too long the Sudan has been, like many other countries including the US, hostage to inherent societal divisions fanned by sectarian, cultural, religious, ethnic, economic, political and social rivalries,regional and international geo-politics.

However, while the US has, I believe,the best political governance vision enshrined in the Declaration of Independance and the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, its efforts in addressing the challenges of making a more perfect union, continue until today. The Sudan, on the other hand, and many African, Arab and Muslim countries are still groping for one. Because of a failure to freely and thoughtfully address their predicament, this has been a formidable task, for all Governments to find the right governance vision that could provide, justice, peace, genuine democracy, human dignity/rights, security and prosperity,through free and popular participation of all citizens.

The Sudanese and the Americans, like many in this world, have been hostage to small politics, self-righteous ideologies, a logical consequence of the lack of an enlightened vision of governance. This form of “small politics” that is rooted in local, regional and global politics of who gets what, when and how, only transforms political action into a zero sum game that thrives on self-serving rhetoric, greed and self-righteous zeal. This, and the cynical culture of live and let die, as the Wall Street meltdown has exposed, is the true culprit.

The Bush Administration's justification of going to war in Iraq in flagrant violation of international law and in total disdain and disregard to American ideals, world public opinion, the United Nations and the international community, is a case in point. That is why the US is perceived as morally responsible for the plight that has befallen the Iraqi people because of an invasion based on faulty intelligence, and indirectly, the ongoing suffering of the Palestinian people because of the 27 December 2008 cruel Israeli invasion of Gaza


With all the crises confronting the human race today, it is peacemaking, not warmongering that ought to be on the top of our agenda. We need to focus on political solutions to political problems. We need to change the political culture and discourse in Washington. With a thoughtful President in the White House, we now need politicians who are thoughtful thinkers rather than angry trigger-happy fighters, who stay in Washington, while young Americans are sent in harm's way, because of them. It is time to encourage the emergence of a new culture of thoughtful and respectful dialogue, which helps advance the peaceful resolution of conflicts worldwide.

That is precisely what we are engaged in through our civil society peace education forums on the ground in Darfur and Sudan. We advocated for and saw how the US positive intervention and encouragement of both the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the National Congress Party (NCP) government helped, both parties overcome years of mistrust, negotiate and sign the historic Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005.

The lesson here is that the pragmatism of the Bush administration proved more constructive than the ideologically driven missile showering of a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan, on the basis of faulty intelligence. This blunder then, like the ICC's now, rather than hurt the National Congress Party (NCP), has strengthened its hold on power. We believe that the best way to help the people of Darfur is to give priority to a political solution of the crisis. Because, at the end of the day, this is the practical and shortest way to set the Darfuris free. Free to go back and rebuild their lives anew, instead of living on humanitarian hand-outs in the internally displaced and refugees camps (IDPs).


BRIDGES 21 US-Sudanese Our foundation/institute just launched our BRIDGES 21 US-Sudanese citizen diplomacy and people-to-people program through organizing between 2-11 April, 2009, a fact-finding trip to Sudan for 4 Americans and a Sudanese student leader. The trip was designed to promote thoughtful dialogues for understanding, the core of our vision, mission and activities since 1985.

The BRIDGES 21 trip that took place from 2-11 April, 2009, was led by Professor Sulayman Nyang, African Studies Department, Howard University and Co-Chair of SSF-IPQI, and included Professors Mae King and Olay Begunrin, Political Science Department, Howard University, Echuria Mbachu, a civil society women advocate and journalist and Noon Salih, a George Mason University Masters Sudanese student leader, and SSF-IPQI Strategic Planning Director.


This Bridges 21 initiative takes place in the context of a review of US-Sudanese relations engaged by the new OBAMA Administration. It marks a culmination of SSF-IPQI's grassroots work since its establishment in Paris, France in 1985 and its move to America in 1998.

Our foundation/institute aspire, strive and work hard that Bridges 21 marks the beginning of a new and sustained citizen diplomacy and people-to-people approach that, we hope, will ultimately bridge the gap of understanding, through genuine engagement and dialogue that can lead to the normalization of Sudanese-American relations, for the mutual strategic interests and benefits of both the American and the Sudanese people, starting by the people of Darfur.

Karen Hughes, President Bush' s Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy's motto vis-à-vis US relations with the Muslim World "Engage, Exchange, Educate, and Empower," pledging more emphasis on a human level international outreach based on shared values and interests, ring true today, and could be applied by the new administration. The adoption of this same motto and approach could serve the Sudanese Government of National Unity.

For years now there has been a steady drumbeat of negative news out of Sudan touching the world's eyes and ears with blistering depictions of suffering and abuse. And there has been a series of eyewitness accounts that would make even the devil blush. The Save Darfur Organization needs to be checked by establishing SSF-IPQI student chapters in American universities, and by providing a sustained stream of solid and objective evidence of progress on the Darfur peace process, the implementation of the CPA and other positive achievements on the economic, infrastructural and developmental fronts in the Sudan.

The serious implementation of the CPA, a change from a media frenzy bellicose anti-Americanism a la Iranian, in behavior Accordingly, this is a time for the Government of Sudan to "engage, exchange, educate, and empower" to reinvent itself on the world stage through a strategic alliance with a renewed America, that is leading by example, in electing its first black president. And the means for doing this is uniquely in our power, because of our combined strategic alliances.

It is no secret that there exists a special affinity between the African Diaspora in America for the mother continent. This has been evident in the long history of militant Pan Africanism and advocacy throughout the last century against imperialism, colonialism, and apartheid. Now is the time to move boldly and swiftly,as respected partners,to help Africans fix African problems. Now is the time to move away from political grandstanding to producing public policy that id knowledge-based, and be positive actors and partners to help the United States of Africa emerge.

This is what the Darfuris, the people of South Sudan, of the East, of Southern Kordofan and every Sudanese need to regain their normal lives in a country that respects their human dignity and their legitimate political, social, cultural, religious and economic aspirations. This is possible if we focus on safeguarding the implementation of the 2005 CPA, the 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA), a consensus to push forcefully for a politically negotiated settlement seems to be emerging within Sudan, Africa, the Arab, Muslim and Non-Aligned world, blessed by both China and Russia. America should no longer be the odd man out.


Thanks to American democracy, President Barack Obama now serves as the President of the United States of America. This political transformation among the American people has liberated the country of many years of a serious psychological and racial predicament. We hope that this American electoral change marks a new dawn of an America that has a better understanding and appreciation of other cultures, peoples and countries in the world.

In so doing, the American people who voted for change in the US also sent a clear message of goodwill saying to the World that we heard you. Now through the ballot box, we chose a new path of change and reconciliation at home and we have led by example. Now let us also start writing a new chapter of better understanding, peace and reconciliation, by working more creatively with the rest of the world.

President OBAMA, after the grim Bush years, has a golden opportunity to bring a breeze of fresh air to our way of dealing with the world. He won because he convinced the people that, unlike Bush, he has a more multi-cultural, inclusive,and thoughtful world view. This is his and our historical moment to spearhead a new kind of leadership; a new kind of politics.

He has the popular political mandate to bring about a change (we can believe in). President Obama can lead from the front and make history by upholding the great American ideals, taking the moral high ground, and daring a new and more enlightened approach to foreign policy, based on dialogue and persuasion rather than disdain and intimidation.

For too long, some members of congress have been holding many people hostage to their misinformed whims and self-righteous comfort zone. The best way to put an end to the suffering of the Darfuris is clear. It is within reach. We welcome the new peace-centered tone of our friends in the formidable Save Darfur Movement and invite them to help us work for the promotion of a more enlightened foreign policy, focused on the sole national security interest of both the American and the Sudanese peoples.

We invite the OBAMA grassroots movement, the Democratic and the Repoblican Parties, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), and American civil society organizations,can play a pioneering role in lobbying congress and advocating for a pragmatic new approach that can lead to a political resolution of the Darfur crisis, the faithful implementation of the CPA and through the upcoming Sudanese elections help the Sudanese people, bring a change they can believe in, like we did by electing Obama.

We believe that the ongoing review of US-Sudanese relations which is taking place within the larger context of re-thinking anew America's relations with the Muslim world, the OBAMA administration can change politics as usual in Washington, engage forcefully and candidly with Sudan, help conclude a peace deal in Darfur and lead by example.

The Sudanese people have unnecessarily suffered for too long. In their humble ways, they have never tired working for a change they can believe in. People of Darfur and indeed the world will have a chance to re-think America, be thankful and rejoice. The World will then, despite the financial meltdown, and maybe because of it, be a more just, peaceful, democratic, dignified, and hopeful place to live in.

Dr. Hashim El-Tinay,
Founder/President
The International Peace Quest Institute (IPQI) and
Salam Sudan Foundation (SSF)

1615 L Street, NW
Suite 340
Washington, DC 20036

202-429-0222 Ext. 523 office
703-362-4800 cell

SalamSudan@aol.com
WWW.IPQI2002.ORG