Rights groups today called on President Obama and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who are meeting today at the White House, to focus their discussion on Sudan to two mutually beneficial aims. As Colin and Maggie aptly described in the Huffington Post today, there are ample pragmatic reasons why the U.S. and Egypt should and must work together in the international effort to implement a lasting peace in Sudan. In a statement released by Save Darfur Coalition, the Genocide Intervention Network, and Enough, the advocacy groups pinpointed two essential elements of the U.S.-Egypt strategy for tackling the challenges that lay ahead in Sudan:
Revitalize the Darfur peace process: The U.S. and Egypt should work jointly to press the Darfuri people’s political representation – including both rebels and civil society representatives – to articulate shared negotiating demands. Egypt must also lend its considerable diplomatic weight to ensuring that credible negotiations between Darfuris and the Sudanese regime progress in a timely manner.
Create consequences for subverting peace in the South: The North-South peace deal is in serious trouble. The main reason is that there is no consequence for obstructing implementation. The U.S. and Egypt should come to an understanding about what pressures and incentives would be most effective in driving the parties to implement the deal and avoid a return to full scale warfare.
To read the full statement, please click here.