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> May 18, 2007
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Sudan-Chad Deal Another Saudi Diplomatic Win
Abdulaziz Sager |
Sudan-Chad Deal
Another Saudi Diplomatic Win
Abdulaziz Sager
In a move that affirms its belief that regional
problems need regional solutions, Saudi Arabia
scored yet another diplomatic victory by brokering a
deal between Sudan and Chad to quell spillover
fighting from the Darfur crisis. While the impact
will become clearer in the months ahead, there is no
denying that the recent accord -- encouraging the
two African neighbors to stop rebels and opposition
groups from staging cross-border raids and support
the African Union�s efforts to stabilize Darfur --
breaks new ground in a festering crisis.
 The
Sudanese government signed the
African
Union-sponsored Darfur peace agreement with a main
faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement in
the Nigerian capital in May last year, but violence
continued unabated. The latest agreement is
significant because African Union peacekeepers have
said that the Darfur conflict cannot be resolved
unless hostilities cease on the Sudan-Chad border.
After a string of proactive diplomatic efforts to
address the region�s compounding crises
--Palestinian infighting, Palestinian-Israeli
conflict, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran -- Saudi
Arabia used the
Arab Summit in Riyadh in March to
venture into resolving the conflict across the Red
Sea. King Abdullah pushed for a dialogue among
Sudanese President Omar Beshir, United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Chairman of the
African Commission Alpha Oumar Konare to evolve a
mechanism to overcome the Darfur problem.
Within weeks, Khartoum said it had accepted the
second phase of the UN plan, which involves the
dispatch of 3,000 UN personnel to provide
logistical, communications and air assistance to
7,000 poorly equipped African Union troops who have
been unable to turn around four years of bloody
ethnic strife in Darfur.
Apart from being a major economic power in the Gulf
and Middle East, Saudi Arabia�s need to get involved
in conflict resolution efforts in the Arab and
Islamic worlds stems from its leadership�s newfound
zest for attempting to slowly start addressing the
Muslim world�s accumulated baggage of problems. The
recent diplomatic initiatives also come at a time
when the United States is ineffective in dealing
with the Iraq and Iran situations, and indifferent
to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, not to mention
its inactivity with regard to many other problems of
the region.
With regard to Darfur, the Saudi attempts to mediate
could also have been a reaction to prove critics,
such as Chad, wrong. In November 2006, Chad -- in a
letter to the UN Security Council -- accused Sudan
and groups in Saudi Arabia of playing a role in the
Chadian rebels� attempts to overthrow the N�Djamena
government. In facilitating the Sudan-Chad deal,
Riyadh set the record straight that one of its main
principles of foreign policy is non-intervention in
the internal affairs of other countries and proved
that its intentions were only constructive.
Further, Saudi Arabia understands that it is pitiful
for a fellow Arab country like Sudan to be oil rich
and yet be steeped in poverty and unemployment.
Sudanese production and export of light, sweet crude
have risen rapidly in the last few years. The
country started exporting oil only in 1999, and has
already become sub-Saharan Africa�s third largest
oil producer, with only Nigeria and Angola ahead in
the race. The country�s Energy Ministry reported
production of some 500,000 barrels per day in 2005
despite internal upheaval. According to the �Oil and
Gas Journal�, Sudan had proven conventional reserves
of 563 million barrels in January 2006, with the
Energy Ministry estimating total oil reserves at
five billion barrels.
According to the
UNDP�s Human Development Report
2006, Sudan was ranked 141 out of 177 countries.
With large fields remaining undeveloped, exports are
set to boom if peace prevails not only between the
north and south of the country, but also along the
borders, thereby throwing up the prospect of
significant poverty alleviation and unemployment
reduction.
The mood to help Sudan out of the moribund situation
was clear when
Saudi Ambassador to the US Adel Al-Jubeir
said last month that his country �will bear its
responsibilities to alleviate the sufferings of our
brothers in Sudan.�
Sudanese Minister of State for Foreign Relations Ali
Ahmed Karti seemed to endorse that statement while
acknowledging that Saudi Arabia would be a guarantor
of the accord. Asked if the Kingdom would offer
money to both parties to ensure the agreement
sticks, Karti said: �There is no stipulation in the
agreement but the understanding is that the Kingdom
will help Sudan and Muslims everywhere.�
While scholars see historic Saudi Arabia-Darfur
relations, there are economic stakes in the present
age too. In December 2005, an agreement was signed
in Jeddah between Sudanese and Saudi businessmen
establishing a holding company for investment, which
started by setting up a $10 billion public
share-holding company in the field of real estate. A
committee formed between the two sides is working
toward implementing the agreement, which covers the
agricultural, animal, petroleum, power and transport
fields as well as banking services.
But, the most important reason behind the Saudi push
towards addressing the crises in the region,
including Darfur, lies in its conviction about the
need for unity. The Saudi leadership recognizes that
the Arab world is fragmented and further divisive
issues would throw the region into chaos that would
be hard to come out of. It is this belief that
encouraged Saudi Arabia to facilitate the signing of
the
Makkah Declaration in October 2006, when about
50 Iraqi religious leaders agreed to work towards
ending the sectarian bloodshed in the war-ravaged
country; the
power-sharing accord between rival
Palestinian factions in February this year; and
adoption of the first �pan-Arab initiative� for
peace in the Middle East at the Arab Summit in
Riyadh in March.
In fact, the
19th Arab League Summit, under the
leadership of King Abdullah, sought to buck the
trend of Arab disunity and inconclusiveness. In
identifying that Arabs themselves were to blame for
the external intervention in the region, and
underlining that the Arab countries would not
encourage external forces to decide the region�s
future, the Saudi king has rekindled a new hope that
needs a collective regional endeavor to keep it
dynamic.
-- Abdulaziz Sager is the chairman of the
Gulf
Research Center in Dubai.
Source:
Arab News |
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