Sudan, a foreign policy success that is getting little attention

[karynnj]

A Sudanese paper included John Kerry's statement on the North recoginizing the results of the referendum in full. The success of the referendum and the important step of the North accepting the results of the referendum has been hidden with everything happening in Egypt, but this is as a good as anyone could have remotely considered possible last August, when most thought the referendum would be delayed and there would be possible hostilities because of that.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA), who made three trips to Sudan in recent months, said North and South Sudan passed two major milestones today with the certification of referendum results on independence for the South and the North’s recognition of the outcome. He also said the time has come to initiate a review of Sudan’s status as a state sponsor of terrorism as a result of Khartoum’s recognition of the referendum. Chairman Kerry issued the following statement:

“This is a historic day for the people of South Sudan. Their determination to create an independent country has been certified by an overwhelming margin. The government in Khartoum also took an important step by announcing it has accepted the outcome of the voting.

“All of the people of Sudan can take pride in the peaceful beginning of a new country, and President Obama and Special Envoy Scott Gration can share in that pride. We must remember that there is much to be accomplished in terms of cooperation between these two independent but interconnected countries in the months before South Sudan is officially independent in July.
<snip>
“A stable, peaceful, and economically viable North Sudan is essential for a stable, peaceful, and prosperous South Sudan and both are very much in America’s interests. Darfur is and will remain central to the U.S. policy agenda and to future U.S.-Sudanese relations. Our goal is peace throughout the region.”

http://www.sudantribune.com/Chairman-Kerry-Welcomes-Referendum,37915

For an example of how negative the prospects looked in August 2010 - here's an excerpt from a Kristoff column.

When is comes to Sudan, Barack Obama has been worse than even George W Bush, argues Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times, who despite his many failings, managed to secure the 2005 deal that ended Sudan's 20-year civil war. Obama's "incoherent, contradictory and apparently failing Sudan policy" is setting the stage for a bloody war or another round of genocide next year, when oil-rich Southern Sudan is likely to vote to secede.

So far it has been all carrots, no sticks, says Kristof. Obama must work alongside China, Britain, Egypt, and others to secure peace and he should appoint Joe Biden to oversee the process. The stakes couldn't be higher: "In a place like Sudan, American diplomatic malpractice could lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths," warns Kristof. (Click here to read about plans for a Rhino-shaped city in South Sudan.)

http://www.newser.com/story/99221/obama-is-failing-sudan.html

Kristoff ended up pretty off target - Eqypt was 100% unhelpful here and Scott Gration's (and Obama's and Kerry's) "carrot" approach worked. It is not clear the tougher policy advocated by Kristoff and Susan Rice would have worked or that there were more "sticks" that we could use for a country under sanctions and on the terrorist list.

Here is an article on the State Department's reaction about the process that will be initiated to remove (North) Sudan from the terrorist list.

President Barack Obama says the United States intends to formally recognize Southern Sudan as a sovereign, independent state in July.
<snip>
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton commended the Sudan government for accepting the outcome.

She said in a statement that the designation will be lifted if Sudan does not support terrorism for the preceding six months and provides assurance it will not do so in future. It must also fully implement a 2005 peace agreement that ended a two-decade civil war between the north and south that killed more than 2 million people.

"We look forward to working with southern leaders as they undertake the tremendous amount of work to prepare for independence in July and ensure the creation of two viable states living alongside each other in peace," Clinton said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110207/ap_on_re_us/us_us_sudan_referendum

There is still a lot that can go wrong in what needs to be done by July. In addition, there is still the issue of Darfur and a repressive, war criminal regime in North Sudan.

It is important to give the Obama administration its share of credit for the two big steps that just happened - they helped avoid a potential bloodbath.

[karynnj]

1. No comments??

[karynnj]

2. Well, I guess I did say it was getting little attention

[asphalt.jungle]

3. i'm sure Kristoff's worse than even George W Bush article

got a lot of attention.

ya gotta love it.

[MadHound]

4. After twenty years of civil war, millions dead, millions injured,

And violence still breaking out in Darfur, I don't think that we can call this a foreign policy "success". About the best that can be said is that both sides got tired of the violence, for now, and decided to take an action they should have taken fifteen years ago.

[karynnj]

5. Given that the likelihood was a new outbreak of violence between the North

and south that was mostly averted, it is an accomplishment. After July, if everything between the North and South is worked out, the US has said that Darfur will be the focus.

The US has helped a little there - after Sudan threw out some of the people providing aid in April 2009, Senator Kerry was able to get them to agree to restore the amount of aid let in - which though still not enough, is better than not getting that agreement.

I agree with you that these things should have ended years ago - but they didn't. The US also can not (and should not be able to) just tell countries what to do. These are two good steps - and many more are needed.

[impik]

6. Obviously. The MSM stinks, and the Left blogosphere is too