Obama Team Launches 'Calibrated' Policy to Tackle Dual Conflicts for r Sudan

Published on Monday 26th October 2009

After protracted debate, the Obama administration last week rolled out a policy blueprint for Sudan, Africa's largest country in land area. The policy is designed to address the challenge of bringing peace to the oil-producing nation that has experienced both a long-running civil war between northern and southern areas and a humanitarian crisis in the western Darfur region, where the violence has been widely labeled as genocide.

While the U.S. role in Afghanistan dominated headlines, senior policymakers from president on down were also wrestling with the dual conflicts in Sudan – continuing suffering in Darfur and the squalid refugee camps across the border in Chad; and the unraveling of a peace deal between the largely Arab north and the black African south, which ended decades of brutal warfare. The seemingly insoluble conundrum facing the administration was this: how to pressure the Sudanese government to curb the bloodshed, while encouraging continued cooperation on fighting terrorism from a regime led by the only sitting head-of-state ever to face an international arrest warrant for war crimes.

The most effective path to success, the Obama team has decided, is to tackle all aspects of the problem simultaneously. "It will not be easy, and there are no simple answers to the extraordinary challenges that confront this part of the world, President Obama said in a statement . "But now is the time for all of us to come together and to make a strong and sustained effort on behalf of a better future for the people of Sudan."

To underscore Sudan's prominence on the foreign policy agenda, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the approach at an unusual early morning briefing last Monday, accompanied by two other principals in formulating the policy, United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice and President Obama's Special Envoy to Sudan, General J. Scott Gration.

Rice, who served as assistant secretary for Africa during the Clinton administration and was a top foreign policy adviser to Obama during the campaign, has been a vocal proponent of a tough stance towards Khartoum. Gration, who spent childhood years with his missionary parents in Kenya and Congo and became a trusted Obama adviser when he accompanied the then-U.S. Senator to Africa in 2006, has been working to establish a dialogue with the Sudanese government and other parties since he was tapped as special envoy in March.

Clinton said an "intensive review" within the U.S. government had produced a policy reflecting "seriousness, sense of urgency, and collective agreement about how best to address the complex challenges that have prevented resolution of the crisis in Darfur and full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement," which curbed conflict between the north and the south in 2005.

Sudan received high-level attention from both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush when they were in office. President Clinton ordered a missile strike against a pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum in September 1998, based on intelligence reports linking the plant to Osama bin Laden, who was blamed for the attacks a month earlier on U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. President Bush took a personal interest in ending Sudan's north-south conflict, after conservative Christian organizations championed the cause of the southern Sudanese, who are predominantly Christian and animist. The northerners – who ruled the country before a partial power-sharing arrangement in the peace accord – are mostly Muslim.

While the new approach will build on previous peace initiatives, Secretary of State Clinton said that past policies "too often has focused narrowly on emerging crises." The policy document "sets forth a comprehensive U.S. policy toward Sudan," which means that the key issues of Darfur and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement will be engaged "simultaneously and in tandem," she stated. "Let me be clear." she said, in a strong warning to Khartoum and other parties to the negotiations. "It is too late for talk, or idle promises, or delays over misperceptions and misunderstandings."

When the first questioner at the October 19 State Department press briefing asked her about Afghanistan, the Secretary deflected the query firmly, saying she wanted "to stay focused on Sudan, because this is such an important issue for so many people, and literally millions of people are kind of waiting to hear what we have to say on it."

As the State Department briefing was taking place, the White House released the five-paragraph statement from President Obama that summarized the new strategy, underlining the administration's unity and top-level attention. Later that day, senior White House officials who crafted the policy document held a background briefing for leading human rights and Sudan advocacy groups who, collectively, had grown increasingly uneasy about what they feared was a lack of sufficient forcefulness to address the Sudanese crises.

Later in the week, Gration and other officials briefed members of Congress to seek their support for a coordinated approach. "While a policy of engagement is an important tool to achieve these objectives, I strongly believe that engagement without credible pressure will not work," Rep. Donald Payne (Democrat-New Jersey) said in a statement , welcoming a renewed administration push to get results on the ground. "The new Sudan policy links engagement with verifiable progress and not promises," said Payne, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health and has been a harsh critic of Khartoum.

Gration, whose activities since his appointment have drawn most of the fire from those seeking a more aggressive administration stance, was unequivocal at the State Department briefing that he fully endorses the outlined policy. "Success will require a unified approach, a renewed sense of urgency," he said. "The President's Sudan strategy provides that approach, that resolve."

In their statements, Obama and Clinton singled out Gration for commendation, as did Rice, who praised "the exceptional commitment, energy, and integrity he's brought to this critical work." Adding a touch of humor to the otherwise sober presentation, Rice also thanked Gration "for being the only man ever to testify before the Senate that he loves me," a reference to an appearance in June before the Foreign Relations Committee where he was sharply questioned about his handling of negotiations with the regime. "I cleared [the testimony] with my wife," Gration interjected, with Clinton looking on in amusement.

"Bringing about lasting peace and improving the lives of millions of people are daunting tasks," Rice said in brief but pointed remarks. "We understand the importance of effective and faithful implementation of our strategy, and we will use all elements of U.S. influence to transform our objectives into reality."

She said the administration is intent on employing "calibrated incentives" to exert pressure "on any party that fails to act to improve the lives of the people of Sudan…There will be no rewards for the status quo, no incentives without concrete and tangible progress. There will be significant consequences for parties that backslide or simply stand still. All parties will be held to account."

White House and State Department officials insist that administration strategy is transparently outlined in the public document released on Monday . "There's no 'hide-the-ball' in the classified version," one of the document drafters said during the Monday briefing for advocacy groups. What remains under wraps is what Clinton called "a menu of incentives and disincentives, political and economic" that will be used to reward progress or punish inaction. That list is in a classified annex to the policy document, Clinton said.

"We don't think it's in the interest of the success of the policy to lay it all out at this time," said one senior official speaking during a not-for-attribution briefing that followed Clinton's press conference. The options "encompass a range of diplomatic, economic, and other possibilities" and include "all elements of national power," the official said.

The promise of a calculated balance was applauded by advocacy groups who had grown concerned that Gration was tilting too heavily towards Khartoum, in what the groups believed would be a vain quest for an agreement unless coupled with increasing pressures. Participants in the White House briefing included prominent proponents of a tougher Sudan stance, including John Prendergast of the Enough Project, Jerry Fowler from Save Darfur, representatives from Human Rights Watch and Human Rights Now and former Special State Department Representative for Sudan Roger Winter, who has a long history of support for the southern Sudanese.