gw, Needless to say there are a thousand important items to attend to at the tail end of any conflict, to end the fighting, and to kick-start a new regime or regimes. But perhaps I could try to help the Arakis shareholders find evidence of whether mercenaries were hired to fight the NDA/SPLA coalition. However this war looks far from over even though the eventual result is looking clearer.
It would take a major intervention by Iran to revive the NIF Government IMO. However since Iran's Khatami is cultivating a more moderate image, I doubt that Iran would take that step. Egypt will stay neutral, or lean to the NDA/SPLA since they do not want to tweak Uganda's nose with Uganda sitting upon the headwaters of the Nile and since my guess, Garang guaranteed Nile waters to Mubarak in Cairo last week. One dam on the Nile in Uganda and then Uganda would do what Turkey did to the Arabic Countries of the Upper Levant (Syria and Iraq)-i.e. control their water and control their fate...
Go to Reuters- lots of articles on US Secretary of State's visit to East Africa....
Albright meets Sudan rebels, pledges U.S. support
10:43 a.m. Dec 10, 1997 Eastern
By Manoah Esipisu
KAMPALA, Dec 10 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met Sudanese rebel leader John Garang in Uganda on Wednesday and called for a new, anti-terrorist government in Khartoum, U.S. officials said.
Albright, in a major show of public approval for Garang's Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), urged the rebels to effect change in Khartoum by peaceful or military means.
''Albright will deliver a message of unity of the opposition to ensure stability and peaceful transition whether the current (Khartoum) regime is changed by elections, negotiations, or military means,'' a senior U.S. official told reporters before the meeting.
''This meeting is to demonstrate our support for a (future) regime that will not let Khartoum become a viper's nest for terrorist activity,'' said another senior U.S. official.
The officials, who declined to be quoted by name, described Sudan as the only state in sub-Saharan Africa posing a direct threat to U.S. interests.
Earlier Albright told reporters after meeting Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni: ''Our two countries, as well as others, are deeply concerned with the situation in the Sudan.
''I will be meeting with the leaders of Sudan's National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Its members not only oppose the (Khartoum) National Islamic Front, but are also trying to lay the groundwork for a new Sudan in which people of all faiths and cultures can focus on rebuilding their country.''
The SPLA, which comes under the Eritrea-based NDA umbrella, is fighting Khartoum in one of Africa's longest wars. Uganda has provided the SPLA with strong military and political support.
Albright is visiting Uganda as part of a week-long tour of Africa.
After the talks she left for the north Ugandan town of Gulu to visit victims of an insurgency campaign led by Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
''She (Albright) will go to the north to see the suffering of children who are perennially kidnapped and taken to Sudan as part of (Sudanese religious leader Mohamed) al-Tourabi's process of civilisation,'' Museveni told reporters.
Two weeks of peace talks between the SPLA and Khartoum sponsored by a regional group of countries ended in Kenya in November and are due to resume next April.
During the talks Washington announced fresh trade sanctions against Khartoum because of alleged human rights abuses and sponsorship of terrorism.
U.S. officials travelling with Albright said they expected her to announce a $2 million aid package for a Ugandan project targeting agriculture and job-creation and another $2 million for rehabilitation of victims of the northern conflict.
The officials said Uganda had so far received $4 million in aid for non-lethal military equipment and could expect another $2 million in the coming year.
The U.S. had given so-called front-line states (against Sudan) military aid worth $20 million to meet any aggression by Sudan. Such states include Eritrea, where the NDA has its headquarters, Ethiopia and Uganda, the officials said.
Museveni accuses Sudan of sponsoring the LRA, an accusation Khartoum denies.
Garang wants a referendum on self-determination for south Sudan. Sudan, divided between the largely Christian and black south and the Moslem and Arab north, should become a secular state, the SPLA says. |
