West aided big African peace deals

"We approached them saying, 'We are different, we are willing to see if we can put this idiocy [of the war] aside through talks,'" says a senior State Department official. But the US also warned the government that "we're not neutral, we're on the south's side – and by the way, you're on our terrorist list."

Meanwhile, Congo has become a kind of lawless Wild West through corruption and official neglect, attractive to anyone who wants to carry out such illicit activities as funding crime or terrorism, says François Grignon, a Nairobi-based analyst with the International Crisis Group think tank.

"You can disappear in the Congo if you have money," says Mr. Grignon. "It is in the interest of the US that the Congo doesn't remain in this kind of quagmire, that some kind of administrative authority is established in countries like the Congo."

The Congolese government has been wooed of late with carrots from Western donors, most recently a $450-million grant from the World Bank, which resumed lending in June after a nine-year hiatus.

The Bush administration stepped up its involvement in the Sudanese peace talks last September by appointing former senator John Danforth as a special envoy. Mr. Danforth helped mediate side agreements on access for humanitarian relief and a limited cease-fire.

During the five weeks of closed-door peace talks in the Kenyan town of Machakos culminating in last weekend's agreement, the US, Britain, Norway, and Italy attended as observers. But according to officials close to the negotiations the US was quite active, drawing up a draft agreement, leaking it to interested parties, and successfully pressuring the two sides to use it as the basis for the deal.

Under the agreement, the government has agreed not to impose Islamic law on the south. A referendum is to take place six years after a comprehensive peace deal is signed, offering southern Sudanese two clear choices: to continue as part of a united Sudan or form a separate country.

Religious freedom and autonomy for the south were seen to be two of the three biggest obstacles to peace. The third is sharing the wealth of the oil fields, currently under government control although located in the south, which will discussed next month, along with terms for a comprehensive cease-fire.

Although past agreements have fallen apart, Gabriel Alaak Garang, who runs a southern Sudanese nongovernmental organization, says: "With the presence of the international community in the talks ... we feel there could be much pressure to ensure the agreement is implemented."

Carole Collins, senior policy analyst with the Washington-based Africa Faith and Justice Network, a coalition of Roman Catholic religious orders, says key questions remain to be answered before the two deals can bring peace to Congo or Sudan. She questions "whether the Kinshasa government can actually disarm and demobilize these former genocidaires and former Rwandan Army people who are not necessarily on the territory it controls."

She says many in southern Sudan are unhappy with the leadership of the SPLA because of its abuse of human rights, and are concerned that the deal could entrench them in power.

• Howard LaFranchi contributed to this report from Washington.

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