Eastern Sudan Front: Quiescence at war and discordance in peace (1)

Eastern Sudan Front: Quiescence at war and discordance in peace (1)
Tuesday 19 June 2007 03:50. By Mohamed Ibrahim

June 17, 2007 — The Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement (ESAP )signed in October 14th last year in the Eritrean capital Asmara between Government Of Sudan (GOS) and the Eastern front (EF) had silenced the low scale insurgency in the Sudanese –Eritrean borders , but the real conflict is yet to start argues Mohamed Osman Ibrahim…

When the Beja Congress (BC) senior cadres met in their first organizational conference in May 1998 in their military base in Lakoyeb, they never thought that they will be sacrificing some more nine years to achieve the outcome of the ESAP.

Either Abdella Kunna ( Red Sea State Minister For Culture ,Sports & Youth in waiting ) nor Ali El-Safi ( Gedarif State Advisor to the Wali in waiting ) thought that their rich and well informed contributions to the discussions and deliberations of that conference will never be remembered again let alone being followed or realized . The two senior leaders with others had dedicated some very fruitful years of their lives to read and study General Giap in Vietnam , Mao Zedong , Kim Il Song , Simon Bolivar and Abdel Fattah Ismaed ( affectionately dubbed Fattah the great alazeem ) revolutionary teachings & tactics of the masses mobilization and their empowerment. How to entice them with aspirations , how to trap them in the armed struggle , how to ..and many other ideas and how to (s). Among others they tried hard with a very good faith to apply these teachings, tactics & strategies to the Beja Revolution (Thawrat Al-Beja).

Kunna and other affiliates strongly recommended a strict provision to be enshrined in the BC constitution which says that the goal of the armed struggle is the reigning & governance of the whole Eastern Sudan region by the organization. The outcome of that conference was brilliant; new documents including a new revolutionary literature were adopted, a new hierarchy constituting a Politburo and a Central Committee was implemented with the sole aim of singling out the Eritrean Old Guard ( batch1 & 2 in the army who received their training in Ala Camp and promoted allegiance to Eritrea rather than Sudan ) within the leadership.

That conference marked the first trial of the BC cadres to abandon the Eritrean patronage and work their own minds on their own political organization. The step was watched carefully by the Eritrean Big Brother but never been hindered or jeopardized , it was encouraged in fact as an Eritrean senior official commented with jubilation that" it’s time to think for yourselves , Eritrean couldn’t offer you support and think on your behalf at the same time".

The new BC leadership worked hard to build partnership with other Sudanese opposition factions especially the SPLA but it didn’t work out .The SPLA leaders always complained from the BC’s leadership weakness and the lack of discipline amongst its members. Other factions never trusted BC leaders and never looked at it as a genuine organization, they always looked at it as an arm or an eye for the Eritrean intelligence. These factors grievously harmed the BC’s work. Two years later everything has been renounced; the constitution, the hierarchy and seemingly the armed struggle itself.

Ala Camp group has been reinstated and ran the organization since then. The BC escaped the political arena and released itself to ineffective & unfruitful organizational exercises with a focus to an annual party celebrating the anniversary of the armed struggle. They followed the Eritrean pattern of celebrations which were used for fund-raising purposes & to keep the idea of the struggle alive in the hearts of the Eritreans in the refugees hosting countries or in the Diaspora. This pattern has nothing to do with the case of the BC for many different reasons that we are not planning to tackle in this essay but we would like to mention that the plunging of the BC in these organizational activities (meetings, seminars, celebrations & conferences) exhausted the party, it’s leaders, cadres and deformed the way it is doing political work.

After the breakthrough signature of Machakos Protocol between the GOS and the SPLA, the BC with other allies under the umbrella of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) woke up in shock to the reality of losing the heavy tool of the Southern Sudanese dominated army .The BC participated at the NDA led technical committee to take part in the loitering around the negotiations halls in Machakos, Nakoro & Naivasha Kenyan resorts.

The then leader of the BC Sheikh Omer Mohamed Tahir returned back from Kenya with an empty basket but tried to sell a small little hope that his loitering in the Kenyan resorts might result in a future participation in the negotiation process .At the same time he kept the reality of the situation for himself and decided to flee the drowning ship to the land of Sudan which he reached on November the 17th 2003.Ironically on the 45th anniversary of the 1st Sudanese successful coup d’ etat led by late General Ibrahim Abboud.

By his arrival to Khartoum he spoke to journalists declaring the end of the armed struggle but no one told him that his armed struggle was on hold long before his auspicious arrival in his country’s capital for the first time ever .Four days later he was received by the President Omar El-Bashir who seized the opportunity to reiterate his government’s commitment " to unifying the ranks and establishing consensus of the people of the homeland in the framework of efforts of realizing comprehensive peace" as quoted by the Government TV station.

By that meeting Sheikh Omer authenticated his decamping from the opposition in front of the President and his own spiritual boss Sheikh Suleiman Ali Betai, head of Hamoshkoreib Quran-ic schools and the most powerful figure in the borders area.

The fleeing of the strong leader Sheikh Omer gave another chance yet to the ALA CAMP to monopoly the decision making process within the ailing faction.

The BC Central Committee swiftly appointed Musa Mohamed Ahmed as an interim leader to counter the vacuum of leadership created by the absence of Sheikh Omer .Not a single commentator predicted that Mr. Ahmed will be crowned indefinitely on the BC reign. Every one anticipated that a member of the JAMILAB tribe will head the game in the next assembly but that didn’t happened –apparently- because the Eritrean Big Brother was planning for something else. A (BC) founder - asked me not to name him – alleged that he recruited the dyslexic leader in a coffee shop in the Eritrean village of Melobeir where he was living. Another one told me that since Ahmed’s training in ALA he stalwartly served as an honest guardian for the Eritrean interests, most likely without being asked to do so.

The JAMILAB supposedly opted for halting their pursue of the BC leadership and many of them decided to join the BC defected soldiers who under the blessing of Sheikh Suleiman Betai and under the direct supervision of his son Mohamed Tahir had established the sheikh Ali Betai Brigade which has been bankrolled and supported by the GOS. The ESAP declined to mention this militia at least publicly but the issue should have been raised in the behind locked –doors discussions.

The decamped Head of BC Sheikh Omer Mohamed Tahir was appointed Commissioner for the Hamashkoreib locality where he had to deal with his longtime foe Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed Betai who endured together with some of his closest allies the imprisonment and maltreatment of the BC under Sheikh Omer and his right hand Musa Mohamed Ahmed. Sheikh Omer had to flee again his locality- commissioner’s job and Sudan back to Eritrea allegedly because of fears for his own life and not because he was not happy with GOS post as it was highly perceived.

Sheikh Omer took his turn in the detention of his close affiliate Musa M. Ahmed, something that would never be raised between the two men because it’s hard for some one to live in an area of Trojan horses without making a single concession.

On the other hand The Free Lions Organization (FLO) representing the Arab Rashaida nomads was heard of for the first time in 2000 when a video tape including Rashaida men in uniform was carefully circulated in Asmara. Shortly afterwards they were admitted to the NDA but since then they never been tested at any level , if we exclude the carefully managed activities of it’s leader Mabrouk Mubarak Salim who recently determined to add the (DR) letters prior to his name claiming the acquisition of a PHD certificate.

Mabrouk was always available for media appearances and interviews with colourful headlines .After the Ethio-Eritrean war he claimed that he backed Eritrea with his forces .Many considered that utterance as an expeditious move before his other allies of the NDA. At the time then the NDA was still asking the two parties to calm down and solve the conflict peacefully while everything was intensifying on the ground.

Salim exploited his photogenic presence, his wealth, his ability to go far beyond any limit and his absolute autocratic power on his Organization to give the sensational headlines to his audience.

As an astute politician Salim maintained good ties with many of the contradicting players in the Sudanese political game including the NDA/DUP chairman who allegedly conveyed to some of his confidants that Mr. Salim is still loyal to him (Salim was a Democratic Unionist (DUP)Party senior Member and MP) .

Both the BC & FLO were considered as friends for the Eritreans ,but each of them worked in parallel lines without any kind of co-ordination until they were forced to make the unmakable.

In his paper ( Beja : local conflict , marginalization , and the threat to regional security ) the senior research associate at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver / Canada, Mr. John Young described the EF as `"is clearly the weakest of all the major rebel groups in Sudan and hence the most susceptible to outside influence" and he was absolutely right. The EF was established not as a progressive step towards unifying the Eastern Sudan political components or any other rhetoric. It was founded as a response to the Big Brother’s desire. Eritrea was singled out from the NDA negotiations with GOS which started in Cairo with Egypt playing the role of the facilitator.

In the preliminary preparations of the NDA Negotiative Stance the BC & FLO asked to be named as the Legal Representatives of the Eastern Sudan ( a phrase borrowed from Yasir Arafat’ PLO in the Arab League literature ).The NDA denied the request and the two factions withdrew their representatives from the NDA and declared that they will seek a separate forum to negotiate with the GOS.

The ailing NDA lost another card and went to the negotiations with it’s remaining factions while the recently dissidents confined themselves to the lovely Asmara waiting for the highest bidder who gets the Bog Brother’ approval in the bazaar of mediations.

Lybia was always there as the Jamahirya’s leader has a peace initiative for every conflict around the world from Philippines to Chad and from North Korea to North Ireland , but the first bidder was Britain as Senior Leader of BC Abdella Kunna disclosed in a statement to Al-Sahafa Arabic daily in Khartoum and www.sudantribune.com (5-4-2007) that "the government has agreed to enter direct negotiations with the Beja Congress on conditions that such negotiations will not be held in Eritrea" he added that they convey their reply to British Officials in a later date. Eritrea was watching the situation very carefully , they would not accept to be patrons of war only in Sudan , they would like to have their share in peace making for strategic reasons with their booming neighbour who shares them borders , water , tribes , languages , music and deep affection.

Weeks later Lybia logged it’s bid and consequently a bunch of Green Book believers began a showdown in Asmara , Cairo & Khartoum ,until it was decided to start direct negotiations in January 2006.Eritrean are friendly with Colonel Qaddafi and they can’t jeopardize his activities so all agreed.

BC & FLO leaders together with BC/ Khartoum Office headed by Dr. Amna Derar earlier declared the foundation of the Eastern Front EF which appeared to be a banner that doesn’t represent the grassroots of either of the tribes.

A month prior to the resumption of the upcoming Tripoli Libyan sponsored negotiations, Mr. M.M. Salim king of first strides thought of ending a long time seclusion in the Eritrean capital .He told the friends (euphemism for Eritrean HJDF and intelligence personnel) that he will be going to Lybia to pursue an academic old dream. When he arrived there he met with GOS power broker Dr. Kamal Obeid head of external affairs for the National Congress Party NCP and they signed a peace agreement witnessed by the Colonel.

This first wide stride ignited the ire of BC leaders who accused Salim of betrayal but they elected their media utterances more carefully.

Dr. Amna Derar clearly questioned the Libyan move and declared that "we cannot accept Libya as a mediator " (sudantribune.com 29/12/2007). Salim was obviously reprimanded by the Big Brother & colleagues so he declared that his agreement with Obeid is not final but a technical reconfirmation of older agreements , no penny more !

No peace that’s Ok for the EF , seminars will fill the vacuum until the 2nd of May meeting between president El-Bashir and the Eritrean presidential envoy Abdellah Jabir.

Mr. Jabir did his job capitalizing on his fame amongst Sudanese political activists for his thorough knowledge of their country’s Geography , History and culture, and for his straightforward approaches . President El-Bashir according to the sudantribune.com on 3-5-2007 announced " Sudan’s support for Eritrea’s initiatives to begin negotiations with the rebel EF to achieve a peaceful resolution to the Eastern Front problem".

BC & FLO where desperate to hear this good story .They were already waiting for their old ally and competitor NDA’s Mohamed Osman El-Mirghani who promised to get them a negotiation spot in return for their endorsement to the Cairo Agreement. It was clear that the NDA man does have the sufficient credit for this drawl but both BC & FLO had nothing to lose anyway.

The newly founded EF drowned in training for negotiations conducted by the Concordis International who marked it’s students with FAIL and declared them unqualified for negotiations according to an essay on the internet. Some experienced & educated Beja activists put themselves at the disposal of EF to help with the negotiations but they were labeled as Political Humbugs and been excluded from the real work .

Eritreans made it clear that no observers or guarantors will be attending the negotiations.. Full Stop. The maverick Beja activist & veteran Pediatrician who holds no apparent position at the EF Abu Mohamed Abu Amna wrote to the then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan calling for the international organization to participate in the talks. In his poignant letter Abu Amna expressed that his peoples don’t want "the world to come to their rescue when fire breaks out and the atrocities of the ..government flare up & the news of the killings and rape catches the attention of the international media" ,he stated that "the participation of the UN is both crucial & essential".

The then head of the UN mission to Sudan UNMIS Dr. Jan Pronk worked relentlessly to get the UN involved , in his powerful blog www.janpronk.nl -which later cost him his job- Dr. Pronk kept writing about the importance of the UN participation in the negotiation ought to determine the future of people living in a land the size of Poland but things went as planned by the sole mediator .This was fairly understood by Pronk who wrote “Both countries have decided that peace talks between Sudan and the Eastern front should take place in Asmara. The Eastern Front has accepted Asmara as the venue. The Front hardly has a choice. For many years it has been supported by Eritrea. In fact it has been controlled by the Government in Asmara “.The negotiations had been widely perceived as a covert negotiations between Eritrea and GOS .In fact the GOS never kept it secret that they don’t care about EF , they are only looking forward to solving their security troubles with Eritrea in a security framework as an NCP senior member told International Crisis Group “if we have president Issaias ,to hell with the EF ,they are doomed” .It is a making no ambiguity statement.

To be continued..