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Schiller Institute Welcomes German Bundestag
Initiatives for Peace in Sudan

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WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 1--On January 16, the German Bundestag passed a resolution by acclamation entitled, "Initiatives for Peace in Sudan.'' which represents a strategic break with the current policy of the British Commonwealth, the United Nations and such British allies in the United States as former U.S. President (Sir) George Bush, U.S. Republican Party leaders Reps. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and Chris Smith (R-N.J.), and such African-American operatives as Dr. Lenora Fulani and Randall Robinson.

With the passage of this resolution, the U.S.A.'s two leading European allies, Germany and France, are now moving to halt the London-organized and -directed, mercenary-reenforced genocide in Black Africa which is being carried out by an alliance of the armed forces of Uganda, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Under the official direction of Overseas Development Minister Baroness Lynda Chalker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords Baroness Caroline Cox, the British Commonwealth continues its Uganda-based invasion and genocide in Zaire, and has organized the dictators of the current puppet governments of Uganda, Ethiopia, and Eritrea, in a London-directed, raw materials-grabbing, colonial war in Sudan.

The ongoing genocide against Hutus being conducted inside invaded Zaire, is an integral part of an imperialist grab for valuable raw materials assets in eastern Zaire by the British Commonwealth forces and such companies as Barrick Gold Corp., on whose board sits Sir George Bush. The invasions of Zaire and Sudan are being aided by such British-based mercenary outfits as Executive Outcomes. Moreover, the same forces which have invaded Sudan, i.e. Ethiopia and Eritrea, have been exposed as fully involved in the training in Rwanda, under the patronage of Ugandan dictator Museveni, of the forces which have committed the genocide in eastern Zaire.

In the face of a collapsing financial system, the policy of the British is to destroy the existence of the modern sovereign nation-state, in Africa and elsewhere, so as to eliminate any opposition to their attempt to reestablish colonial control over the strategic minerals upon which modern life depends.

The Schiller Institute urges the U.S. government to follow the lead of our allies, Germany and France, in breaking from the British Commonwealth policy in Africa and to intervene to force a halt to the British Privy Council's invasions of Zaire and Sudan and the worst genocide of the Twentieth Century, now raging throughout sub-Sahara Africa.

U.S. LEGISLATORS CALL UPON U.S. GOVERNMENT TO SUPPORT GERMAN BUNDESTAG PEACE INITIATIVE IN SUDAN

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JAN. 30 (EIRNS)--Four U.S. legislators issued an appeal today to the U.S. Senate and Congress to support the initiative to produce peace in Sudan which passed the German Bundestag on January 16. The four U.S. legislators visited Sudan on September 13-23, 1996, on a fact-finding mission initiated by the Schiller Institute. The legislators are Hon. James Mann, former U.S. Congressman from South Carolina; Rep. Benjamin McGee, Assistant Speaker Pro Tem, Arkansas State Legislature; Rep. Ben Swann, Massachusetts State Legislature; and Rep. Thomas Jackson, Alabama State Legislature.

On January 16, the German Bundestag passed a resolution, titled "Initiatives to produce peace in Sudan," by acclamation. The text was presented by Alois Graf von Waldburg-Zeil, Karl Lamers and the CDU/CSU faction; Dr. R. Werner Schuster, Joachim Tappe and the SPD faction; Dr. Uschi Eid and the Bundnis 90/Die Gruenen; as well as Bundestag members Ulrich Irmer, Dr. Irmgard Schwaetzer and the FDP faction. The resolution came on the initiative of MdB Schuster who, with MdB Tappe, both of the SPD, travelled to Sudan in 1996 on fact-finding tours.

The all-party resolution reads in rough translation as follows:

The Bundestag should resolve:

I. The German Bundestag asserts:

In the Sudanese civil war, which has been going on since 1956, with only eleven years' respite, three million people have died. The war has also led to one of the biggest refugee movements at present. Five million Sudanese have been displaced inside the country, 500,000 of them in the bordering countries.

Every attempt to limit [understanding of] the civil war to a conflict between the Islamic fundamentalist-influenced North and the Christian-influenced South, misconceives the multidimensional nature of the problem. The causes are also to be sought in the divergent interests of the many ethnic groups or the different economic development rates in the North and South of the country, which have derived from the unequal distribution of land.

There are increasing indications that the civil war is escalating in the border area between North and South, as of 1995. Indications of this are to be seen in the enormous efforts that are being expended for mobilization, by all parties to the conflict. The result of further conflict would be further, numerous human lives and an uncontrollable refugee flow.

Alongside the conflict which world public opinion has placed in the foreground, between North and South, armed clashes between the participating parties in the South, as well as in the North, are increasing in significance. Any conflict-solution strategy must take this into consideration.

Regardless of the conflicts, talks with representatives of the South (SPLA, SPLA-United, SSIM), the government in Khartoum, as well as the opposition in the North (UMMA, DUP), have yielded surprising agreement on the following points:

* Neither side can win the civil war with military means. Only a political solution can bring peace.
* A change of government in Khartoum in the short term is improbable and would not end the conflict.
* The population of the country desires a peaceful solution and increasingly refuses to support the parties in conflict.
* All parties to the conflict agree on external mediation, in which the cooperation of the German Federal Republic is explicitly desired.

II. The German Bundestag demands that the German federal government:

1. support the peace process, especially the creation of several, interlocking "Round Tables." These "Round Tables" should converge on various levels: a. the parties to the conflict in Sudan, b. the states of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) (Ethiopia, Djibuti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda), and c. the friends of the IGAD states (USA, Canada, Great Britain, Norway, Netherlands), d. [and should seek] a common policy in the context of the European Union, especially with France.

   
   

2. work, within the United Nations, but especially within the EU, for coordinated initiatives: to promote civil society (especially women's organizations) as well as civil structures in Sudan (empowerment). This support should not be in the form of great projects of financial cooperation but primarily in the form of small projects of technical and personal cooperation, which should be carried out especially by the German development service and NGOs.

   
   

3. lend more support to the process initiated by IGAD for a peaceful solution to the conflict. In addition, the IGAD initiative should be strengthened in its concern to carry out development in the IGAD countries. This will raise the readiness and self-consciousness of these countries, to engage in the difficult field of crisis prevention (for example in Sudan).

   
   

4. work within the international community to create positive incentives through foreign policy and development policy measures, for all Sudanese parties to the conflict, in order to bring about a serious dialogue process, which can be followed over time.

   
   

5. organize, vis-a-vis the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, for them to renegotiate with Sudan the repayment modalities of Sudan's foreign debt, and to make the terms of repayment depend on progress in the peace process.

   
   

6. press for international monitoring of the peace process (and referendum).

   
   

7. work to find competent mediators, acceptable to all parties to the conflict. Special significance should be given to the Sudan Working Group of the All African Conference of Churches, in this dialogue process. The communications structures that are available here should be used.

   
   

8. press for continuation of the Barcelona process, begun by UNESCO in September 1995.

   
   

9. invite to Europe appropriate representatives of the Sudanese government, the Parliament, and the National Islamic Front for a dialogue, perhaps on an informal level. In this connection, the political foundations are particularly recommended.

   
   

10. promote the possibility envisaged by Sudan to build a federal system to solve its internal problems, by carrying out a constitutional dialogue with Sudan. German constitutional lawyers could provide advice.

    
    

11. to work, on an international level, against the creeping genocide of the Nuba people in Sudan.

    
    

12. work internationally for an end to the supply of all weapons to the parties in conflict. The EU has already decided not to deliver weapons to the parties in conflict.

    
    

13. finally, to initiate a continual and systematic dialogue between Islam and the Western world, in order to eliminate mutual prejudices.

    
    

Bonn, January 16, 1997

- Alois Graf von Waldburg-Zeil
- Karl Lamers
- Dr. Wolfgang Schaeuble, Michael Glos and faction
- Dr. R. Werner Schuster
- Joachim Tappe
- Rudolf Scharping and faction
- Dr. Uschi Eid
- Joseph Fischer (Frankfurt),
- Kerstin Mueller (Cologne) and faction
- Ulrich Irmer
- Dr. Irmgard Schwaetzer
- Dr. Hermann Otto Solms and faction