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English edition -3rd quarter 1998
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France’s "brilliant" idea.
| It is not simply because he spoke very highly of the "process of democratization"
implemented in Khartoum by the regime of head of state general Omar Hassan
al Bashir that French junior minister for development Charles Josselin
has exasperated the Sudan People’s Liberation Front (SPLA, Sudanese opposition)
leader colonel John Garang when meeting him in Cairo last month (ION 823).
What specially put Garang ill at ease was the offer transmitted by Josselin
to the Sudanese authorities in the name of France to rehabilitate the railway
to Wau, capital of Bahr el Ghazal Province, in south-western Sudan. Particularly
as the French minister boasted in front of him saying ‘it’s also good for
you’. In the mind of the French official, this railway if rehabilitated
will benefit as much the government of Khartoum as the southern rebellion.
Because in this way the transport of relief food to the famished populations
in the south will be easier. But this idea disregards the fact that Wau,
the subject of bitter fighting in February, is an important military stake
in the confrontation between government and rebel forces. For SPLA, repairing
the railway under these conditions would have as its first effect to make
it easier to supply the Wau garrison with food as well as the military
operations in the region. An outlook which could not be expected to fill
Garang with joy.
The Indian Ocean Newsletter, n°824, 12 September
1998
Comments by "Vigilance Soudan" The railroad that links Khartoum to Wau, Bahr el Ghazal capital town and second main city in the South, is presently used only 4 times a year to supply the governmental garrison with arms and ammunition. This does not appear to be sufficient as Wau recently nearly fell into SPLA’s hands. The train passage is protected by militia men who take advantage of it to loot and burn neigbouring villages taking into slavery children, young boys and girls (around one thousand in April according to Fides agency). The rehabilitation of the railroad France is contemplating, -according to The Indian Ocean Newsletter and to other sources-, would be in the first place an important military contribution to the Sudanese regime. Earlier this year, Hubert Védrine, French Minister of Foreign Affairs, replying to a question put by M.P. Laurent Dominati on slavery practices in the Sudan, had stated that these disturbing facts were due to the prevailing state of war. We had been at the time quite surprised as war is no legal excuse in such a case. Mr Védrine had added that the main issue was to convince the warring parties to reach a peace based on compromise. But if a peace of compromise is a commendable goal of the French policy regarding the Sudan, the transport of weapons does not appear to help in this connection. The railroad rehabilitation by the French would involve them in the abduction of people being put into slavery. Apparently, somebody was clever enough to convince the French minister of Cooperation that rehabilitating the railroad would help considerably in the relief of starving people in Bahr el Ghazal. We do hope indeed that the minister will realize in due course he has been fooled. |