SUDAN: NCP AND PRESS RHETORIC AGAINST DARFUR REHATTING

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001981 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR AF/SPG/, AF/PD (A. JOHNSON, S. LAUTERBACH),IIP/G/AF, RRU-AF, INR/R/MR PARIS FOR ARS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KPAO OIIP PGOV PINR SU SUBJECT: SUDAN: NCP AND PRESS RHETORIC AGAINST DARFUR REHATTING INTENSIFIED BY MIDDLE EAST DEVELOPMENTS REF: Khartoum 01843 ¶1. SUMMARY: Over the past two weeks, Sudanese press reports suggest that two lines of Arab-nationalist opinion in Sudan - focused on the Lebanese and Darfur crises, respectively - are tending to converge. A major link is provided by Omer al-Bashir himself, who is both Sudan's president and current Chairman of the Arab League. He claims that Zionist and American interests and strategies, in various configurations, are behind both crises. And Hizbollah and Nasrallah are increasingly held up as models for Sudanese resistance to any threats to national sovereignty, especially to "foreign intervention" in Darfur. END SUMMARY. Dual Struggles, Lebanon and Darfur -------------- ¶2. For over a month, the Sudanese press has been marked by two lines of gradually intensifying protest and critique, centered on the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, on the one hand; on the other, international pressure to accept UN peacekeepers in Darfur. In both cases, NCP hardliners have taken the lead, with Bashir as the major spokesman, and the NCP and affiliated organizations as platforms for supporting statements and demonstrations. Apart from official statements, a scattering of editorials appear on a daily basis, expressing a strongly Arab-nationalist line on one or another of these crises. With Some Connections... -------------- ¶3. Until recently, the two lines of critique proceeded largely independently. A few early editorials, however, noting the perceived ineffectiveness of the UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, reasoned that they would be equally useless in Darfur (Sudan Vision, July 17). An even earlier op-ed by Dr. Al-Tayeb Zein Al-Abdin of the Inter-Religious Council -- "Because of the U.S., No to UN Troops" (Al-Sahafa, July 6) - spotted another link: because of a perceived U.S. bias towards Israel, which he found unfair, he was withdrawing his previous support for the U.S.-backed plan to bring UN peacekeepers to Darfur. Or more Organic Links -------------- ¶4. In a National Workers Day speech last week, however, al-Bashir suggested a more organic link between the two struggles, with the U.S. as the common enemy. Bashir reiterated government opposition to UN troops in Darfur, Sudan's support for the Palestinian cause, and condemnation of U.S. support to Israel. In addition, however, he was reported to consider "what is happening now in Darfur as an extension of an American Zionist plan to apply the experiment of Lebanon and Palestine in Sudan" (Sudan Tribune, Aug. 6). Nasrallah and Hezbollah as Models -------------- ¶5. A second speech at the Sudan Armed Forces 52nd Anniversary this week Al-Bashir also implied similarities, at least, with respect to the resistance struggles in Sudan and the Middle East: "President Al-Bashir commended the steadfastness of Hezbullah under the leadership of Nasrallah and hailed the struggle of the Palestinian peoples, affirming Sudan's solidarity with Lebanon and Palestine. President Al-Bashir hailed the Armed Forces on the occasion of the Army Day, describing it as a symbol of the dignity of the people and protector of Sudan." ("Al-Bashir reiterates rejection of Sudan to entry of international troops to Darfur under Chapter 6 and Chapter 7," SUNA, Aug. 15; also "Al-Bashir: We Will Defeat the International Troops as Hassan Nasrallah Did with the Israeli Army," Al-Sahafa). ¶6. In a visit this week to the Wadi Halfa area in the far north, Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha reiterated these themes, hailing Sudan's rejection of international troops and describing the Sudanese people as "capable of miracles." "We will prepare rockets to amputate the hands of whoever assaults our country; we take Hizbullah as a model," he said (Alwan, Aug. 16). And the U.S. the Common Enemy -------------- ¶7. In this new conjuncture, the views of a right-wing, anti-Western columnist such as Alfatih Ziada are sounding less unusual. "The UN has become an arm of the U.S. State Department," he writes, and the "military impotence and political bankruptcy" of the "conventional Arab governments" is now clear. U.S. charges of Iranian backing to Hezbollah, he argues, are as baseless as were Powell's accusations against Iraq; events show the "falseness" of U.S. views "both in Lebanon and Darfur" ("The American Game," Sudan Vision, Aug. 15). KHARTOUM 00001981 002 OF 002 ¶8. In his editorial of Aug. 16, Ziada continued to weave connections. "The best lesson learned from Lebanon by the Arab world and particularly Sudan," he argues, "is the unity of ranks against foreign intervention." Despite their sectarian divisions, the Lebanese united against Israeli invasion. In Sudan, however, some "secular politicians" and "moderate Muslims" (such as the Umma Party, "an out-of-wedlock baby of the West") voice support for foreign intervention. And why does the U.S. call some armed groups "terrorists," he wonders, "while Darfur rebels enjoy U.S. support?" But Most Still Want the U.S. as a Friend -------------- ¶9. Despite this emerging discourse, pitting the Arab nation(s) against the West, the press remains the mirror of a wide variety of views. Alongside scathing attacks on the U.S. role in the Middle East, one can find articles recognizing U.S.-Sudanese cooperation on the DPA (e.g., "Sudan, USA Agree to Boost Darfur Peace," Sudan Vision, Aug. 8),and calling for closer relations ("Al Sammani: Sudan Aspires for Direct Positive Relations with the USA," (Sudan Vision, Aug. 10). Some articles have reported CDA Hume's efforts to work with Sudan, specifically for his meetings with Presidential Advisor Al-Khalifa ("Moves in the Right Direction," The Citizen, Aug. 9) and with President Al-Bashir ("Cameron Hume's Efforts: Will they get Washington on the Right Track?" Al-Wihda, Aug. 14). Many hope for improved relations, despite the crisis in the Middle East. HUME