Accomplishments
America: Helping The People Of Sudan
U.S. Support to the CPA - The U.S. helped broker the historic CPA on January 9, 2005, ending 21 years of civil war.
- The CPA provides the framework for addressing the grievances of those living in the Sudan and in the other marginalized areas of Eastern Sudan and Darfur.
- Sudan has witnessed the founding of the GNU; the naming of Salva Kiir, a Southerner, as First Vice President; establishment of the Government of Southern Sudan; the appointment of Southerners as GNU cabinet ministers; founding of many CPA-mandated commissions; and the return of more than half a million displaced people to the South.
- National elections are a key milestone in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The U.S. supports credible, peaceful, nationwide elections in 2009 as a vehicle to democratic transformation in Sudan.
- The U.S. is committed to employing a combination of diplomatic and assistance efforts to implement this goal. In coordination with the UN and other donor governments, the U.S. will offer technical resources and other support to the parties to facilitate elections planning.
U.S. Support to the DPA - The U.S. worked with the African Union (AU) to successfully broker an agreement between Sudan’s Government of National Unity (GNU) and the largest rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Minni Minawi, who signed the DPA on May 5, 2006. At the negotiations in Abuja, Nigeria, the U.S. made every effort to secure the participation of other rebel movements in the DPA.
- The DPA establishes critical security, wealth-sharing, and power-sharing arrangements that address the long-standing marginalization of Darfur and is an important step on the long road toward reconciliation and healing.
- The U.S. continues to work hard to ensure that rebel groups who did not sign the DPA are brought on board. To that end, the U.S. supports the efforts of the UN and the AU to promote dialogue between the Government of Sudan and these non-signatories.
- The U.S. welcomes the recent appointment of UN-AU Joint Chief Mediator Djibril Bassole, and hopes that he will reinvigorate the peace process to achieve measurable progress on the ground.
- The unchecked Chad-Sudan cross-border incursions threaten the progress made toward peace. The increasing insecurity in Eastern Chad is due to both the unstable political situation in the country and the spillover of conflict from Darfur.
U.S. Action through the UN - The U.S. is committed to enabling the rapid deployment of 26,000 United Nations-African peacekeepers (UNAMID) to Darfur as authorized by UNSC 1769 on July 31, 2007. UNAMID subsumed elements of the smaller African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), which has been in Darfur since 2004.
- The U.S. believes the UN and AU should maintain the lead facilitating role in all political negotiations. However, the U.S. recognizes the important interests and roles played by regional actors such as Chad, Libya, Egypt, and Eritrea. The U.S. has also encouraged China to use its influence with Khartoum to work for a peaceful political settlement.
U.S. Support to Peacekeeping - The U.S. lent critical support for the transition to the UN-AU hybrid peacekeeping force (UNAMID). Since 2004, the U.S. has provided over $450 million for the purchase of vehicles and communication equipment, as well as the construction and maintenance of 34 African Union base camps which were transferred to the U.N.
- The U.S. is working with the UN and other allies to train these forces and provide them with helicopters, combat engineers, and other equipment that are critical for this mission to be a success. All told, the U.S. played a leading role on the deployment of the troops, and contributes approximately 25% of UNAMID’s budget.
- During his February 2008 trip to Africa, President Bush committed an additional $100 million to train and equip African troop-contributing countries to prepare them for their participation in UNAMID.
- To increase pressure on all parties to end the violence in Darfur, the U.S. imposed economic sanctions on seven individuals and more than 160 companies owned or controlled by the Government of Sudan or linked to militia.
U.S. Support to Humanitarian Assistance - The U.S. is the largest single donor to Sudan. The U.S. has provided more than $5 billion in aid to the Sudan and Eastern Chad since 2005.
- The U.S. funds more than 80% of the World Food Program’s food aid in Sudan and Eastern Chad, reaching approximately 6.5 million people throughout the region.
- The U.S. funds life-saving humanitarian assistance, providing shelter, health services and relief supplies to Sudan’s most vulnerable people.
- The U.S. continues to help Southern Sudan rebuild after the devastating two-decade civil war; conducting longer-term development programs in education, health, democracy and governance, and economic growth.
