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25 October, 2007
PAYNE: As we know, this is about the Middle East, but the war on terror I think includes other areas. And Africa, as you know, is one of the areas we're concerned about. And I have three quick questions about three countries involved in the whole war on terror, so to speak.
The government of South Sudan suspended its participation with the government of Sudan because of the obstacles that the government of Sudan, Bashir's government, has put in as relates to the comprehensive peace agreement.
As you know, Senator Danforth -- and I think it was one of President Bush's greatest achievement, at least in Africa, with the comprehensive peace accord.
And so I wonder whether the administration is urging the government of Sudan to implement the CPA.
Secondly, about the U.N. peacekeepers and A.U., Bashir has still been putting in roadblocks to bringing peacekeepers into Darfur. And I wonder if you could comment on that very quickly.
Secondly, the Ethiopia-Eritrean situation, and bottoming the demarcation of the borders had not been accepted by Ethiopia, our big ally in Africa.
And I wonder if our administration is urging Ethiopia to accept the agreement that they said they would accept from The Hague as relates to the border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia.
PAYNE: Finally, the question of the 193 people that were killed. I had legislation that finally passed this House and this committee and the House support from the chairman and the ranking member -- the chairman, anyway. Are we putting pressure on our friends, Ethiopia, to do the right thing?
And finally, Somalia. We have the Ethiopians in Somalia. Transitional federal government just arrested the head of the United Nations food program just a few days ago. Areas are continuing to deteriorate.
What are we doing to try to include the ICU, the Islamic Courts Union, with the transitional federal government in Somalia so that we can bring a peace to that region?
Thank you.
RICE: Thank you. Thank you, Congressman Payne.
And let me begin with southern Sudan.
Yes, we are -- I'm, personally, very concerned about the CPA, which, of course, United States took the lead in getting negotiated. It ended a civil war that had cost tens of millions of lives. It's something that we really must make work.
We've requested, you might notice, in the supplemental $70 million for southern Sudan because we believe that we need to make a more active effort on some of the reconstruction efforts in southern Sudan and to help strengthen that government.
We are very concerned about the behavior of the north, about Khartoum, in dealing with southern Sudan about, obviously, their behavior in Darfur and eastern Sudan. But their behavior in the CPA has also not been good.
And I have just recently received a report from Andrew Natsios, who has been spending some time in Sudan also working on Juba. And I will be looking at what policy we can undertake, because this is something that cannot be lost, the CPA.
With all due need to deal with Darfur, we don't want the southern Sudan piece of this to unravel.
On Eritrea/Ethiopia, yes, we do encourage and urge the acceptance of the U.N. effort there.
RICE: It has been difficult to talk to Eritrea, frankly. We've had trouble getting them to talk to us. And I sent our assistant secretary to talk with Mr. Isaias, and he didn't see her.
So while we are saying to the Ethiopians that certain things need to be done, it would be very helpful if the Eritreans would show a little bit more interest in what the United States has to say.
In terms of Ethiopia and the current situation in Somalia, yes, we are encouraging -- and Ethiopia is encouraging -- the transitional administration there, government there, to reach out as broadly as possible to the clans, to members of the ITU who are not engaged in terrorism.
It's a complicated situation. As you know, there are some people who are in Somalia that we really believe have strong Al Qaida ties, and, obviously, they need to be kept as far away from any further government there.
But, yes, we are working very closely.
I don't think there's any doubt that the Ethiopians don't want to stay in Somalia. And one of the things that we're trying to do is to work with the African Union to get that security force, the peacekeeping force, ready for Somalia.
The A.U. has its challenges because they're trying simultaneously to raise forces for Sudan, for Somalia, to keep efforts going in Cote d'Ivoire and in other places. So it's a challenge.
But we are very attentive to what needs to be done in Somalia.