During her five day trip to Africa, Secretary of State Müller will, according to a foreign office press report, first arrive in Rumbek, the designated center for the administration of south Sudan. ¹⁾The AA refuses to provide information about the topics of the announced discussions with the SPML and its chief, John Garang. Garang is the opponent of the central government in Khartoum which has concluded a formal peace treaty with the secessionists. This treaty is considered fragile. Müller's following visit in Uganda will focus on the conflict with the Christian terror militia ,,Lord's Resistance Army"(LRA). The LRA operates in the north of Uganda and SPML Chief Garang has announced that he will proceed against their areas of retreat in southern Sudan. Another stage of Müller's African trip is the northern Uganda Gulu which is, among others, part of the LRA's combat area which is to be linked to southern Sudanese Juba by railroad. This stretch is part of a net which could merge the south of Sudan with Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia into a unified economic region. The railroad is to be built under the leadership of the German company Thormählen Schweisstechnik (soldering technique). ²⁾

Only now have the first details concerning the financing of the infrastructure, which is tantamount to a new development of the south of Sudan, come to light. Thormählen Schweisstechnik has tentatively estimated the cost to be eight billion dollars. Funds for the ,,transnational"activities of the African NEPAD-Initiative ( ,,New Partnership for Africa's Development"), which are sponsored by the West, are still to be forthcoming. ³⁾According to the SPLM ,,commissioner for foreign relations,"Costello Garang Ring, the German government has held out the prospect of a 300 million Euro loan with oil as security. ⁴⁾Recently, the smaller sum of 10,000 Euro had been collected by Thormählen Schweisstechnik during a ,,benefit ball"held under the sponsorship of Ulrich Junghanns, the economics minister of Brandenburg. ⁵⁾During the event the private German radio station, ,,Radio Hamburg,"transferred to the Sudanese secessionist, Garang Ring, an ultra short wave facility which will enable the broadcasting company to establish a radio station. Reception is to be secured with radios bought with the proceeds of the benefit ball and distributed in the villages in the secessionists' territory.

While in the South of Sudan preparations for the secession are being expedited with German support, the German government attempts to buoy its pressure on the central government in Khartoum. Berlin did not succeed in preventing a EU resolution granting payment of development aid funds to the Sudan. After the peace agreement which transferred not only de facto rule over the south of the country to the SPLM, but will also grant significant influence within the central government, the EU intends to re-establish its aid payments for development to Sudan and to distribute the funds half and half to the north and south. Minister of State Müller previously had tried in vain to prevent Brussels from approving the pertinent agreement. According to the federal minister for development, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, the German government will not grant any development aid to the Sudan. ⁶⁾

Meanwhile a new secession movement announces itself from the east of the Sudan. The ,,Beja Congress"as well as the ,,Free Lions Movement"are striving for autonomy for the territories they claim, modeled after the peace agreement between Khartoum and the SPLM. The new secessionists are accused of close contact with similar political groups in Darfur. ⁷⁾In their sphere of influence is Port Sudan, at the moment the country's only harbor which is especially utilized for Chinese oil transports. The new secession movement continues to press on with the break-up of the Sudan which will make probable the establishment of south Sudan as a one party state sponsored by Berlin. The international press attributes ,,dictatorial (...) and human violations (...) methods"to the prospective chief of state, John Garang. ⁸⁾The European-inspired splintering off would break down the principle of the invariability of the borders within Africa which had been valid since the end of European colonialism.

1) Staatsministerin Müller reist nach Süd-Sudan und Uganda; Pressemitteilung des Auswärtigen Amtes 28.01.2005
2) see also Nucleus of a Germ
3) Nepad Commissions To Study South Sudan-Kenya Rail Link; Gurtong Peace Project 12.12.2004
4) Sudan pact to spur growth in Africa; The Standard 10.01.2005
5) Benefiz Ball 2004 - ,,Radio für den Frieden"; www.thormaehlen-schweisstechnik.de
6) Sudan: Berlin gegen EU; taz 27.01.2005
7) Unruhen nun auch im Osten des Sudans; Neue Zürcher Zeitung 31.01.2005
8) Waffenruhe für den Südsudan vereinbart; Neue Zürcher Zeitung 03.01.2005