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WASHINGTON: Fresh violence in Sudan has broken out, throwing up a roadblock just short of what had been expected to be the finish line for years of US efforts to help end the country's civil war.
After 10 days of clashes, President Barack Obama stepped in on Wednesday to personally urge the North and South to end their hostilities, three weeks ahead of the scheduled independence for the South.
“There is no military solution,” Obama said in an audio message recorded late Tuesday for the US-funded Voice of America (VOA) broadcasting network.
“The leaders of Sudan and South Sudan must live up to their responsibilities.
“The government of Sudan must prevent a further escalation of this crisis by ceasing its military actions immediately, including aerial bombardments, forced displacements and campaigns of intimidation,” the US leader said.
The State Department earlier had warned Khartoum, capital of the North, that it could derail the normalization process if violence continued in South Kordofan.
Heavy fighting has flared up across South Kordofan state on the south Sudan border since June 5 between the northern Sudanese Armed Forces and allied militiamen against fighters aligned to the southern former rebel group, the Sudan People's Liberation Army.
The south is due to proclaim full independence on July 9, under a peace deal worked out after decades of conflict with the north, but the fighting threatens to overshadow the historic event, particularly if the southern army is drawn in.
The United States under George W. Bush was among the leaders in pushing through the peace plan that in late 2005 stopped two decades of bloodletting.
Obama picked up the torch and joined a UN conference in September on the issue. His presence helped boost the event's weight to something more like a mini-summit.
Under the peace plan, the United States pledged to review Sudan's inclusion on its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Washington also is at work on the country's foreign debt burden and is weighing naming an ambassador to Khartoum after the country's partitioning on July 9. For now a US charge d'affaires represents US interests.
But the US carrot-or-stick policy was quite limited, analyst Marina Ottaway at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has said. The International Criminal Court has already issued an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir on genocide charges in the western Darfur region.
Former US ambassador John Campbell with the Council on Foreign Relations said Bashir is under fire in Khartoum for his perceived weakness vis-a-vis the South.
“The US can be forthright and upfront in calling for a cessation of the hostilities,” Campbell told AFP in an interview. “One of the difficulties is that the CPA (peace plan) envisaged that many of the current issues would be resolved before the January referendum took place, and they were not.” Major issues like fixing borders, a statute for Abyei province, and sharing oil money have yet to be ironed out.
“Under theses circumstances, it seems to me that the leverage of the US is indeed somewhat limited,” Campbell stressed.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday said she would back deployment of Ethiopian blue helmets in troubled Abyei, if the North and South Sudan ask for them.
And more directly the United States could favor establishment of a regular dialogue between the North's president and Salva Kiir, the South's.
“Outside actors could help that,” Campbell said. “But when I say outside actors, I mean that the Sudan is an international responsibility and I do not think that responsibility for the resolution of Sudan solely belongs to the United States.”
