Mediation of Civil Wars: Approaches and Strategies. The Sudan Conflict by Hizkias Assefa

Author:Hizkias Assefa [Assefa, Hizkias]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Peace, Political Science
ISBN: 9780813372815
Google: 1UiPAAAAMAAJ
Goodreads: 4659593
Publisher: Westview Press
Published: 1987-01-06T00:00:00+00:00

It is interesting to note, however, that General Lagu had an understanding attitude towards the government's December military offensive. He is reported to have construed Numeiri's intention as wanting to come to the peace table with as much military advantage as he could get, and described Numeiri as the most reasonable leader Khartoum ever had.370

On the political front, "in December 1971, some groups among the Southern politicians and the Anya Nya opposed the peace initiative and were refusing to come forward. These groups did not then believe in the sincerity of the government's intention to implement its policy of regional autonomy."371 According to Wai, some contended that the Sudanese government had begun to lose on the military front, and that was why it wanted to negotiate, and thus the SSLM should press for nothing less than secession. However, he points out that the principal advocates of this position were foreigners who were self-styled advisors to the SSLM, and who were responsible for coordinating aid and relief to the Southern refugees and students.372

Meanwhile, Abel Alier was taking measures to make the peace talks more attractive to the SSLM. He sent emmissaries to Europe to invite all agencies, willing to give aid to the government for resettlement and rehabilitation of Southern refugees, to participate in a conference to be held in Khartoum at the same time as the planned negotiation between the government and the SSLM in Addis Ababa.

On December 22, 1971, a delegation of government officials en route to other European countries also visited the head offices of the WCC to invite the WCC and its member bodies to the forthcoming conference. According to a memorandum on this meeting, the WCC made it known that their participation would:

depend on the results of the January meeting [negotiations] between the SSLM and the Government of the Sudan. We expressed our optimism that the negotiations will succeed, in which case our own participation is already assured...We made it clear that our member bodies are anxiously awaiting to see what the January negotiations may bring, and that if that January meeting fails, WCC will lose its credibility and its ability to control some of the activities of its member bodies in relation to their activities in the Southern Sudan.373

Alier also sent a group of Southerners living in the Sudan as emmissaries to Europe and East Africa to meet with SSLM representatives. The group met with Mading de Garang and Lawrence Wol Wol and attempted to persuade them that the opportunity to make peace should not be allowed to escape. According to Wai, more than anything else, the great advantage of this meeting was to help each party assess what would and would not be acceptable to the other.374

Moreover, Alier enlisted the support of the Foreign Minister and persuaded him to recall all Sudanese Ambassadors for briefing on what was happening between the SSLM and the Sudanese government and to instruct the Ambassadors to stop their propaganda activities against the SSLM.375

In the midst of all these activities, there were reports of a Sudan Airways plane crash in Anya Nya-held territory.

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