[Peace-discuss] US suborns Sudan like Ethiopia

[C. G. Estabrook]

[The principal goal of the USG's viewing-with-alarm in regard to Darfur
was to get the Sudan government to do what it was told to do by the US
(cf. Kosovo and Serbia). The following two articles suggest that the US
is getting its way, that Bashir wants to avoid the fate of Milosevic. --CGE]

	CIA recruits Sudanese to infiltrate Arab jihadi groups
	Ewen MacAskill
	The Guardian
	Tuesday June 12, 2007

The CIA, faced with the impossibility of infiltrating white Americans
into radical groups in the Middle East, is recruiting Arab-speaking
Sudanese citizens, in spite of sanctions against the country over the
killings in Darfur, it emerged yesterday.

Sudanese recruits have been providing information about individuals
passing through Sudan to Somalia and elsewhere in the the Horn of Africa
and Iraq. The Sudanese government is reported to have detained suspects
in Khartoum at the request of the US.

The US state department issued a report describing Sudan as a "strong
partner in the war on terror". A state department official said the
Sudanese had done things that had saved lives but acknowledged there was
a contradiction: "The bottom line is that they are bombing their people
... Dealing with Sudan, it seems like they are always playing both ends
against the middle."

A former high-ranking official, quoted in the Los Angeles Times,
acknowledged the importance of the intelligence: "If you've got
jihadists travelling via Sudan to get into Iraq, there's a pattern there
in and of itself that would not raise suspicion. It creates an
opportunity to send Sudanese into that pipeline." A US official still in
post told the paper: "Intelligence cooperation takes place for a whole
lot of reasons. It's not always between people who love each other deeply."

US intelligence agencies do deals with all sorts of governments in the
Middle East and central Asia, not only for intelligence-gathering but
for secret detention centres and as fuelling stops in rendition cases.
Iran provided information to the US to help its overthrow of the Taliban
in 2001.

Another ex-CIA official said: "There's not much that blond-haired,
blue-eyed case officers from the United States can do in the entire
Middle East, and there's nothing they can do in Iraq. Sudanese can go
places we don't go. They're Arabs. They can wander around."

But relations have been soured by Darfur, a high-profile issue in the
US, with campaigners calling for sanctions against Khartoum.

Although Mr Bush has taken a lead on sanctions, critics claim he has not
gone as far as he could have and blame this on intelligence cooperation.

Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the national security council, said he
did not believe sanctions would ruin intelligence cooperation. "We
certainly expect the Sudanese to continue efforts against terrorism,
because it's in their own interests, not just ours," he said.

In Sudan yesterday, the government rebuffed appeals by the new French
foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, to allow a UN-African Union force
into Darfur. [But see below.  --CGE]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2100728,00.html

	International Herald Tribune
	U.N. says Sudan unequivocally accepts
	U.N.-African Union force for Darfur
	The Associated Press
	Monday, June 11, 2007

UNITED NATIONS: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has received a letter
from Sudan's president unequivocally accepting a joint U.N. and African
Union force to help end the bloodshed in Darfur but details must be
worked out, a U.N. spokeswoman said Monday.

A copy of the letter, obtained by The Associated Press, however, did not
give Sudan's unequivocal backing to the proposal.

Final approval for the 23,000-strong force faces at least one major
obstacle because President Omar al-Bashir told France's foreign minister
earlier Monday that he wants all the peacekeepers to come from Africa.
The United Nations and the African Union have pledged to seek African
troops first, but say they will use non-African troops if necessary.

The U.N. and AU recently asked Sudan to approve troops from two African
countries and two non-African countries to strengthen the beleaguered
7,000-strong AU force already in Darfur. This deployment is part of a
heavy support package that will pave the way for the much larger U.N.-AU
hybrid force.

Ban told reporters he received a letter from al-Bashir a few days ago
responding to a revised plan for the hybrid force to help end the
four-year conflict. He said the United Nations, the African Union and
Sudan were holding talks right now in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the proposal.

"I sincerely hope that we will be able to have early resolution of this
issue," he said.

Afterwards, U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said Ban considers the
letter from al-Bashir "positive to the extent that it does accept the
hybrid force" — including the revised U.N.-AU outline for the force.

Asked whether this was unequivocal, she replied: "Yes, I would say
that." But Montas said the letter did not go into specifics, which were
being discussed in Addis Ababa.

In the June 4 letter, al-Bashir told Ban the relevant departments in his
government "are currently busy studying" the U.N.-AU proposal.

"The forthcoming consultations of Addis Ababa scheduled for June 11-12,
2007 represent an important opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to
agree on the actions that are required to resolve the conflict in
Darfur," the president said.

He said it is important that the U.N., the AU, and the government of
Sudan "agree on the details of the hybrid operation" and the way to
address other issues including a ceasefire and political talks to bring
in all rebel groups.

Asked about the apparent contradiction, Montas said, "It's written in
al-Bashir's language. I was comparing it to the other types of letters
we've had. I think this is the most positive letter we've had since the
begin of the talks."

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who met al-Bashir for an hour
in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, told reporters afterwards that Sudan's
president now fully agreed to a "hybrid operation" but wanted them all
to come from Africa.

He appealed to al-Bashir to allow deployment of the force to end the
humanitarian suffering in Darfur, where fighting has killed more than
200,000 people and displaced 2.5 million.

The conflict began in February 2003 when ethnic African tribes rebelled
against what they consider decades of neglect and discrimination by the
Arab-dominated government in Khartoum. Sudanese leaders are accused of
unleashing the pro-government Arab militia, the janjaweed, that has
committed many of the conflict's atrocities — a charge they deny.

The hybrid force is the final phase of a three-stage U.N. plan to
bolster the poorly equipped and under-funded AU force, which has been
unable to stop the fighting in Darfur. Al-Bashir agreed to the package
in November, but stalled acceptance of the first two phases and has
backtracked on allowing U.N. troops in Darfur.

The revised proposal for the hybrid force resolved a dispute over
command of the joint operation.

But whether the vague new language can satisfy potential contributors to
a U.N.-AU force who want the United Nations to be in command, and the
African Union and Sudanese government, which want the AU to play a major
role, remains to be seen.

The agreement appeared to be deliberately opaque to try to win approval
from the three major players, and the issue of command and control was
likely to be raised in Addis Ababa during their talks on Monday and Tuesday.

The U.N. Security Council will be briefed on the outcome of the Addis
Ababa talks on Wednesday, a day before council members head to Africa.
The trip includes stops in Addis Ababa on Friday and Saturday and
Khartoum on Sunday, where additional discussions on the hybrid force are
expected.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who is going on the council's Africa
trip, said he had not heard about al-Bashir's acceptance of the hybrid
proposal.

"It's not my understanding, but if it is true it's very welcomed," he
said. "We have said that now that we have an AU and UN agreement it is
up to Sudan to accept it. And we expect Sudan, and urge Sudan, to accept
it as soon as possible, because the alternative to that is that we would
have to start discussing new sanctions to increase Sudan's incentive to
cooperate."

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/11/news/UN-GEN-UN-Sudan.php