President Obama Announces Ambassador Princeton N. Lyman
as U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Ambassador Princeton N. Lyman as the new U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan. With a lifetime of experience working on some of Africa’s most pressing challenges, Ambassador Lyman is uniquely qualified to sustain our efforts in support of a peaceful and prosperous future for the Sudanese people. I also want to thank my friend Scott Gration for his tireless and effective work as my previous Special Envoy. As the State Department’s Senior Advisor on Sudan North-South Negotiations since last August, Ambassador Lyman worked closely with General Gration, as part of the American diplomatic effort that led to an historic and peaceful independence referendum for South Sudan.

I was proud to nominate General Gration as our next ambassador to Kenya, and I am grateful that Ambassador Lyman has agreed to take on this new assignment and sustain the progress that has been made. In his new capacity, Ambassador Lyman will oversee our support for full implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, reduced tensions between north and south over the status of Abyei, the birth of an independent South Sudan on July 9, 2011, and a definitive end to the conflict in Darfur. In those efforts, he has my full support and confidence.

Just as the United States depended on his diplomatic skills to help support the peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy when he was U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, I am confident that Ambassador Lyman’s deep knowledge of the African continent will advance U.S. interests and the aspirations of the Sudanese people during this time of transformative change in Sudan.

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“Violence in Darfur is escalating and the peace process is threatened.  At the same time, Sudan is entering a critical period of transformation into two new nations, both of which face serious challenges that will require high level engagement by the new Special Envoy. We anticipate with great urgency the appointment of a new Special Envoy to Sudan who possesses the diplomatic experience, familiarity with Sudan, and gravitas necessary to make tangible progress toward peace and justice in all of Sudan.

Also in lieu of Scott Gration’s nomination to Kenya, Mark Hackett of Operation Broken Silence calls on activists to call on President Obama to appoint the right diplomat that will implement the right policies in Darfur and all of Sudan. Mark’s petition urges the President and his administration to ensure that the next diplomat has a vast experience in conflict prevention/resolution, African affairs, and in Sudan.

The petition urges that the new diplomat should be instrumental in enforcing a promised policy of balanced approach regarding pressures and incentives. The diplomat it says should also immediately focus on:

• President Obama to appoint a new U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan, with seasoned diplomatic experience in conflict prevention/resolution, African affairs, and Sudan

• The new U.S. Special Envoy to enforce the abandoned U.S. Sudan policy of a balanced approach regarding pressures and incentives

• The new U.S Special Envoy should lead international efforts to support the Doha Peace process, reinvigorate the peace process in a neutral location, encourage all the parties to negotiate in good faith and make sure a cessation of hostilities agreement is signed and implemented
• The U.S along with the international community to renew and strengthen the mandate for UNAMID

• The international community led by the United States to push for the Government of Sudan to provide unimpeded access for peacekeepers and humanitarian workers to areas where fighting has taken place and where internally displaced persons have fled

Sign the PETITION HERE and share amongst your networks.

For those of us who follow events in Sudan, where the South recently voted to secede from the North and the ongoing genocide in Darfur continues into its eighth year under the watch of the international community, the stream of news reports on Thursday, January 27 was particularly noteworthy for its extreme contrasts.

In the afternoon, Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough answered a question about Darfur in a roundtable discussion on foreign policy issues which was streamed live via The White House website. As President Obama’s White House point person on Sudan, McDonough’s strong words regarding the United States’ continuing focus on the genocide in Darfur struck all the right notes. McDonough stressed that in his recent meeting with Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali Karti, 25% of the time was spent discussing North/South issues while 75% was spent on Darfur. McDonough said, “We’re not pulling any punches” in ongoing diplomatic efforts and described Susan Rice, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, as “outraged” over the lack of sufficient access for peacekeepers in Darfur. Most importantly, he made it clear that the U.S. will “hold Khartoum and Juba responsible for their international obligations.”

Read the full post.

David Rosenberg

Cross posted from Enough Said blog.

As I thought about the upcoming South Sudan referendum, I knew we at the Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition would have to do our best here in Pittsburgh, along with other groups nationwide, to raise awareness about the historic process and the potential violence it could spur.

Our coalition had already developed close ties with the Sudanese diaspora community in Pittsburgh. Our members included some recently arrived Darfuri refugees who had come to the U.S. by way of Iraq and Jordan, and a South Sudanese community that was more settled here and more structured.  We had already worked together successfully on a national South Sudanese–Darfuri Diaspora Summit last spring at Carnegie Mellon University. The U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Scott Gration, Head of the South Sudan Mission to the United States Ezekiel Gatkuoth, and then President of Save Darfur Jerry Fowler addressed this summit, drawing a large and engaged audience.  Our coalition was keenly aware of CPA issues and the South Sudan referendum.

The crucial nature of the January 9 vote and the fears that conflict could develop before, during, and after it, meant that we could not afford to lose focus this fall, whether on Darfur or South Sudan. We were lucky to learn that Ambassador Jendayi Frazer, former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the second Bush administration was at Carnegie Mellon University and that she was willing to do a talk on the ‘Choice for War or Peace in Sudan.’ Her presentation at CMU on November 16 was brilliant and illuminating, but we knew that we would need to do more to catch the attention of the general public, media, and government officials. We would have to up the ante from an advocacy viewpoint. The week after New Year’s seemed an obvious target in terms of timing. But what would it be?

Only one type of event seems to have that kind of panache: a march through downtown. We had done marches before but mostly in spring or autumn.

Could we get enough people out on the street in the windy corridors of downtown Pittsburgh on a January day, when students and others might still be straggling back from winter holiday?

But, we decided to roll the dice. We had a banner made, which a local Presbyterian church, situated on one of the most crowded neighborhood corners of the city, agreed to put up on its fence. We started canvassing cosponsors and speakers.

The event is coming together encouragingly, even inspiringly: Student groups willing to take an excused absence to march with us, denominational leaders willing to pray, march, and speak with us, Sudanese community members ready to schedule vacation time from work to participate, civic and governmental leaders offering to lend support through proclamations and attendance. Global Solutions Pittsburgh, our staunchest ally, has promised to bring hot chocolate to the rally.

On January 5, four days before the referendum, we will be out in force in the streets of downtown Pittsburgh, again carrying signs in black and white of villages destroyed in Darfur from 2003-2009 and also green and white signs of South Sudanese villages destroyed in the North-South civil war. Motorcycle police will escort and temporarily close off busy downtown thoroughfares as we march at lunch hour. A member of the SPLM Secretariat is slated to speak at Market Square at the end of the march, and we will hear from political, religious, student, and community leaders. We expect an inspiring event that will propel our advocacy forward toward spring. We hope if you’re in or around Pittsburgh, you’ll join us.

David Rosenberg is the coordinator for the Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition.

Ambassador Dane Smith

The decision to appoint Ambassador Smith is a vital step towards increasing the United States support for Darfuri civilians. Ambassador Smith has extensive experience working in Africa and served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Sudan from 1986-1989. He has also served Deputy Chief of Mission to Botswana, Special Envoy to Liberia, as well as Ambassador to Guinea and Senegal. Ambassador Smith will join other high level U.S. diplomats dispatched to Sudan including Ambassador Princeton Lyman who was appointed in August to focus on South Sudan as well as Special Envoy Gration.

The recent actions taken by activists and partners urging the U.S. to appoint a senior diplomat for Darfur through letters, calls, and petitions has been an essential towards making Sudan a priority of the Obama Administration.

Over the past few months, the Obama Administration has clearly demonstrated their support for civilians throughout Sudan; however, the situation in Darfur remains critical as insecurity continues to plague the region. Over 2.7 million civilians have been forced to take refuge in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps due to attacks by the Sudanese army and allied militias as well as ongoing fighting between the government and rebel groups. The government continues to perpetrate severe human rights abuses in Darfur and has also persistently obstructed access for UNAMID peacekeepers and humanitarian organizations to provide security and aid to Darfuri civilians. Ambassador Smith will have the opportunity to address these among the many other challenging issues facing Darfur, and I welcome his dedication and the decision of the U.S. to appoint a senior diplomat solely committed towards promoting security and justice for the Darfuri people.

As usual, U.S. Ambassador Sudan Rice issued strong remarks condemning the actions taken by the Sudanese government. Here is the statement she released yesterday:

The United States strongly condemns the reported shutdown of the Khartoum office of Radio Dabanga and the arrests of 13 staff and rights activists who shared the office. Until this weekend, this station was one of the few remaining media outlets reporting from Sudan on the conflict in Darfur.

These arrests indicate an emerging pattern of harassment and intimidation by the Government of Sudan against civil society in advance of the scheduled January 9 referenda. We have already condemned the arrests of individuals in Darfur for speaking to members of the UN Security Council during the Council’s trip to Sudan. The United States is deeply concerned about such actions and reminds the Sudanese Government of its international obligations to respect human rights, including freedoms of assembly and of the press.

Sudan stands at a historic juncture as less than ten weeks remain before the scheduled referenda on self-determination for the people of Southern Sudan and Abyei. The United States urges Sudan’s leaders to choose the path of peace, freedom, and free exchange in order to bring an end to decades of war and suffering.

It is essential for the United States to remain engaged in the situation in Sudan and prioritize civilian protection and human rights throughout the country. The U.S. must pressure the Sudanese government to ensure that the activists being held are not subject to torture and are given access to their lawyers and families. I welcome the strong remarks by the Obama Administration and urge them to continue to condemn unjust actions taken by al-Bashir’s government to oppress civilians.

Intensifying Diplomacy in the Lead up to the Referenda in Sudan

Office of the Spokesman Washington, DC
September 14, 2010

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With fewer than 120 days before the referenda on Southern secession and the future of Abyei, Sudan has entered a critical make-or-break period. U.S. strategic priorities in Sudan remain: full and timely implementation of the North-South Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that results in a peaceful post-2011 Sudan, or an orderly path toward two separate and viable states at peace with each other; a definitive end to conflict, gross human rights abuses, and genocide in Darfur and that Sudan does not again become a safe haven for international terrorists.

During this critical period, the Obama Administration is intensifying its work to implement its Sudan strategy by: elevating diplomatic efforts; working with other nations, the UN, and other regional and international organizations to help prepare for the referenda; making significant investments on the ground to help prepare for what happens after the referenda, and presenting the parties concrete steps that the United States will take contingent on concrete achievements on the ground. These actions support the Sudan strategy launched by the Obama Administration in October 2009.

While it is up to the political leaders in Sudan to decide whether they are choosing the path of compromise or confrontation, peace or war, the Obama Administration is pressing the parties to facilitate the peaceful and on-time conduct of the referenda, to respect their results, to resolve key remaining post-referenda issues, and for the Government of Sudan to end the conflict in Darfur.

This weekend, President Obama’s Special Envoy, Scott Gration, undertook his 20th trip to the region. In meetings in Khartoum, he made clear to the Sudanese Government that normalization of relations with the United States depends on the full implementation of the CPA and peace and accountability in Darfur. In meetings in Juba, Special Envoy Gration likewise set forth our clear expectations of the Government of Southern Sudan as well as the potential incentives that exist should they complete their obligations under the CPA. He also made clear that there are a range of consequences that will be deployed, if the situation in Sudan deteriorates or fails to make progress, including additional sanctions.

INTENSIFIED DIPLOMACY:

• President Obama will attend a high-level Sudan meeting hosted by United Nations Secretary General Ban on September 24 to bring high-level attention and focus to actions that can support on-time referenda that reflect the will of the Sudanese people.
• Secretary Clinton called Sudanese Vice Presidents Taha and Kiir on September 8 to urge concrete and immediate progress in the referenda preparations and the importance of taking immediate steps to improve humanitarian access in Darfur.
• Ambassador Princeton Lyman, a skilled negotiator widely respected throughout the region, has been appointed to head a U.S. Negotiation Support Unit in Sudan to facilitate the talks required in the days ahead.
• The Obama Administration has more than doubled its official presence in southern Sudan, where Ambassador Barrie Walkley now leads the U.S. mission. This “diplomatic expansion” includes field-based planners who will ensure that input and perspectives from the field are incorporated into Washington-based planning efforts.
• In June, Vice President Biden traveled to the region to spur key actors to take key steps in the critical months ahead. He also urged Sudan’s neighbors, including Egyptian President Mubarak, to commit to recognize the results of the coming referendum.
• Ambassador Susan Rice continues to work closely with senior UN officials to support the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) and the African Union/United Nations Hybrid operation in Darfur (UNAMID), improve the humanitarian situation on the ground, and ensure that the UN is prepared to support the upcoming referenda.

SPECIAL ENVOY GRATION’S MEETINGS IN SUDAN:

• Special Envoy Scott Gration met with the parties this weekend to present a concrete package of steps that the United States will take in response to concrete achievements on the ground.
• He again made clear that conducting credible, on-time referenda, and respecting the outcomes of those referenda, will lead to an improvement in U.S.-Sudanese relations. There are four stages to this effort:1. First, an immediate shift in the use of our licensing regulations with respect to the agricultural sector to enhance local food production in a chronically food insecure country and benefit the Sudanese people. The new licensing posture will be subject to regular review.2. If credible, peaceful on-time referenda occur and the results are respected, the United States will take steps to allow additional trade and investment in Sudan in certain prescribed non-oil sectors.3. If there is agreement on the key principles for post-referenda arrangements, the United States will support an exchange of ambassadors.4. And, finally, upon fulfillment of the CPA and resolution of the Darfur conflict, the United States will work with Congress to remove foreign assistance restrictions, lift economic sanctions and actively support international assistance and debt relief, consistent with U.S. law and internationally agreed processes.

Getting to full normalization – including lifting of sanctions against the Government of Sudan; rescission of State Sponsors of Terrorism designation consistent with the evidence and legal criteria provided in the relevant statutes; supporting implementation of debt relief consistent with internationally agreed processes, and access to multilateral and bilateral assistance (consistent with our laws and requirements and with the rules and regulations of the international financial institutions) – will require a comprehensive peace agreement in Darfur that is credibly implemented, a sustained improvement in security, humanitarian access, and services that improve living conditions on the ground, full cooperation with UNAMID, a cessation of all support for international terrorism, and efforts to achieve accountability, justice and reconciliation. The relevant terms in U.S. law, such as the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, as well as the terms of relevant UN Security Council Resolutions must also be met.

MULTILATERAL RESPONSE:

The Obama Administration is intensifying work to mobilize a robust multilateral response so that the world stands united in contributing resources on the ground, in supporting full implementation of the CPA, and in helping prevent a return to war in Sudan.

• The most senior officials in the administration are working with former President Thabo Mbeki, who is spearheading African Union efforts on Sudan.
• The Administration is also working with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the European Union, the US-UK-Norway Troika and other members of the international community to help prepare for the January 2011 referenda and to ensure they are credible and peaceful and to make preparations for the possible results.

INVESTMENTS ON THE GROUND:

The United States is making significant investments on the ground to help prepare for what will come after the referenda. For example, the United States:

• Is working with the UN and international partners to prevent and mitigate conflict, support grassroots efforts that help resolve disputes over scarce resources, provide skills training and economic opportunities to youth, all with the goal of mitigating the risk of renewed hostilities between northern and southern Sudan and within southern Sudan. The United States has launched a $150 million, multi-year new programs to expand these activities in late 2009.
• Has provided $12 million for elections security in Southern Sudan, allowing the Government of Southern Sudan to establish 11 Joint Operations Centers in Juba and in the 10 states in collaboration with other partners.

On Tuesday, in an interview the South African Broadcasting Corporation, President Obama stated:

“We think that it is important for the government of Sudan to cooperate with the ICC.  We think that it is also important that people are held accountable for the actions that took place in Darfur that resulted in, at minimum, hundreds of thousands of lives being lost. We want to move forward in a constructive fashion in Sudan, but we also think that there has to be accountability, and so we are fully supportive of the ICC.”

In two separate speeches this week, attended by myself and another of my colleagues from Save Darfur, U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration spoke about the United States’ stance regarding the ICC arrest warrant. After hearing his remarks in person, it appears that Gration was misquoted in a Sudan Tribune article which cited another source claiming that Gration stated earlier this week:

“The decision by the ICC to accuse Sudanese president Omer Al-Bashir of genocide will make my mission more difficult and challenging especially if we realize that resolving the crisis in Darfur and South, issues of oil and combating terrorism at a 100%, we need Bashir”.

However, during the forum hosted by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom where Gration supposedly made that statement, a colleague who attended the event clarified that “General Scott Gration did not express dissatisfaction with the ICC’s decision to issue a second warrant for Omar al-Bashir’s arrest. In a response to a question posed by the audience, General Gration said that the ICC’s move would not change his work in Sudan very much. In no part of General Gration’s speech did he say that the arrest warrant on charges of genocide will make his mission more difficult and challenging.”

The above statements make it clear that the Obama Administration not only supports justice and accountability for perpetrators of human rights abuses but also the ICC judicial process. As Philip Crowley, the Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Public Affairs, stated during the State Departments daily press briefing on Monday, it would be good for Bashir “to hire a good lawyer.” These statements of support by the President and others in his administration are most welcome. However, as encouraged in a joint statement issued Monday by the Save Darfur Coalition along with other human rights groups, the United States should now work with other UN Security Council members and ICC states parties to ensure that al-Bashir is apprehended.

Please take action by signing a petition to President Obama and Secretary Clinton to encourage their continued support for justice in Darfur and call on them to prevent any retaliation by the Government of Sudan against Darfuri civilians, aid workers or peacekeepers.

Does this include the journalists of Sudan, Mr President? Just yesterday the Government of Sudan shut down a newspaper and arrested three journalists after the paper reported an unverified claim that Iran had a weapons-producing plant operating in Sudan.

The above story is just one example of many abuses committed against journalists by the Bashir Regime in recent times — especially during the recent fraudulent elections.

Today you commented:

All around the world there are enormously courageous journalists and bloggers who, at great risk to themselves, are trying to shine a light on the critical issues that the people of their country face; who are the frontlines against tyranny and oppression.

Sounds like Sudan.

Additionally, you said:

What this act does is it sends a strong message from the United States government and from the State Department that we are paying attention to how other governments are operating when it comes to the press.

Will you?

Mr. President, I have to ask, will your Special Envoy, Maj. Gen. Scott Gration, heed your call and protect journalists and condemn those that seek to silence and stymie a free press?

The Senators pressed General Gration on the administration’s plans and available resources to respond effectively to “all possible scenarios.” As Senator John Kerry noted, the international community is in a rare position to have “a map of the fault-lines” of a crisis. While General Gration seemed to be surprisingly comfortable with the current resources at his own disposal within the State Department, he acknowledged the magnitude of the challenge. For example, General Gration agreed with the recent assessment by Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair that South Sudan is currently the area of the world most at-risk for mass killing or genocide. He also highlighted the key issues that could be triggers for conflict during the referendum period – most notably the demarcation of borders and oil sharing.

On Darfur, General Gration stressed for the first time in unequivocal language that general insecurity and lawlessness remains his chief concern.  Rather than once again touting gains from the protracted peace talks in Doha or the diplomatic rapprochement between Sudan and Chad, he stated bluntly that such progress on the strategic level “has not changed the lives of people on the ground…[who] don’t have a way out.” Specifically, he noted as unacceptable the continuing offensive in Jebel Marra, the continued aerial bombardments by the Sudanese Armed Forces, and the breakdown in the ceasefire between the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudanese government.  His frank acknowledgement of the unfilled gaps in services for victims of gender-based violence since the expulsion of 13 humanitarian aid organizations in March 2009 was also particularly noteworthy.

To make progress on comprehensive security in Darfur, General Gration described his efforts to push the United Nations/African Union peacekeeping force to “get out of the [major] towns” and to patrol the roads and the rural areas. This appeal carried the caveat that it is the Government of Sudan that has the ultimate responsibility to provide protection to its citizens and that they continue to fail miserably. In highlighting the unchanged mentality of the regime, he noted that the walis (governors) and local government leaders in Darfur have done very little to put in legal systems to identify those who commit crimes and then to bring them to justice.

With such disturbing realities in Darfur and potential for violence in the South, the Senators wanted to know how the United States could increase its leverage in Sudan. Some, like Senator Roger Wicker, accurately questioned whether Secretary Hillary Clinton or Ambassador Susan Rice should be making this more of a personal priority. He even noted a series of ads by Save Darfur and some of our partners making this case. In response, General Gration felt that the current level of involvement of Clinton and Rice was sufficient. With that said, he also announced that he would be sending a senior level diplomat to Juba next month to lead a diplomatic surge before the referendum.

It was also refreshing to hear General Gration agree with Save Darfur’s position that the international community as a whole is not coordinated, nor doing enough – and that this must change. This point relates to another critical statement by Gration: that continuing to marginalize the regime in Khartoum can be an effective pressure point. This was his response to a question from Senator Russell Feingold on what tools the United States would have available if Omar al-Bashir and his National Congress Party attempted to disrupt the 2011 referendum. General Gration would not reveal specific decisions that could be made by Obama’s National Security Council, but he said the United States would not tolerate any “messing” with the referendum. And then he importantly added that our forms of pressure can be more effective if we can get other nations to go along with them.

This revealing conversation then begs the question of what is the administration doing to make its incentives and pressures on the Sudanese government multilateral. The United States clearly did not attempt to sync closely its response to the fraudulent elections with other countries. So while a State Department spokesperson said the elections would not bestow legitimacy on the Bashir regime, there was not a coordinated message coming from our partners in Europe or important countries in Africa and the Arab world – some of which actually made statements suggesting the elections did meet certain standards of acceptability.

Going forward, if multilateral pressure is the most effective foreign policy tool, what are General Gration and the administration doing to establish a unified international plan on the following sticks and carrots? Here are a few areas that should be explored:

• Non-toleration for a Disrupted Referendum: while General Gration says a disruption will not be tolerated by the United States, it certainly could be by others in the same way the elections were accepted. What standards for success and consequences for failure are being jointly planned with European, African and Arab partners?
• Oil and wealth sharing: a critical issue for the Chinese and Japanese, the largest importers of Sudanese oil. Are the United States, China, and Japan coordinated in pressuring the North and South to reach a deal before the referendum?
• Border demarcation: both the African Union Panel on Darfur and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development are involved in the mediation of this issue. What consequences would other African countries have for either the North or the South if their actions were identified as obstructionist in finalizing the demarcation?
• Debt-relief: a carrot that the Sudanese government wants desperately. What conditions has the United States set and is it working with global partners on this issue?
• International Criminal Court: the non-cooperation of the Sudanese government and the indictment of Bashir will continue to make it a pariah state for many countries. Are the United States and its partners still clearly sending this message?