Salva Kiir: an ostrich in the midst of two elephants?

Three days have gone by since President Salva Kiir returned from China and as usual, there are more questions than answers.

At the invitation of Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong, Salva Kiir Mayardit paid an official visit to China from July 17 to 22.

Aside from the following ambiguous statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang to reporters that “the two sides will exchange views on strengthening bilateral relations and other issues of common concern, including the Darfur issue," no concrete details emerge of Kiir’s motivation to tour China. Moreover, it was great to see Mayardit being accorded grand red-carpet welcome by the communist country, the first of its kind for a leader from one of the “marginalized“ parts of Sudan.

What rang alarm bells, however, was the constant address of Salva by both the northern Sudanese and the Chinese media as the Vice President of the Republic of Sudan. They clearly and deliberately were playing down South’s autonomy and importance, and without saying, its separatist ambitions.

Sure, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement has made him one but has it not inaugurated him President of South Sudan, too? The point here is, the coalition between China and the National Congress led-government of Sudan is inspired by non-interference in domestic affairs and oil ties.

China has made it its official foreign policy not to meddle in external issues, and in this case not uttering a thing about Darfur because she takes it to heart when other countries criticize her rejection of Taiwanese Independence, and yes, the duo love each other because Khartoum has also been waging war on South Sudan since British colonialism to suppress it from exiting and China doesn‘t give a hoot one bit so long as its energy thirst is quenched and no word about Taiwan.

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As far as Sino-Sudanese relations are concerned, Salva Kiir knows very well he would have to work harder to neutralize China’s implicit aggression which comes as the latter fully backed Khartoum and repeatedly vetoed attempts by the UN Security Council to sanction the illegitimate and imposed Islamic Fundamentalist Regime of Omar Bashir and the unending supply of arms to the regime.

To his credit, Mayardit did try to sway China’s tilted pot towards Khartoum, when he thanked China for sending peace keeping troops to southern Sudan and supplying humanitarian aid packages and stressed the southern region of the country is very keen to attract Chinese investment and would make every effort to protect Chinese nationals in the country, according to a report by Xinhua.

In deed, regardless of Kiir‘s gratitude to the Chinese, it does appear that Mayardit went in to China not to win it for the marginalized majority in the country but to deliver United States’s message to China on Darfur, the very important subject that has got the world’s attention, with so little being accomplished, to the chagrin of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, read the International Crisis Group’s recent report on the CPA, http://allafrica.com/peaceafrica/resources/view/00011183.pdf.

Salva knows he is “America’s errand boy” and he made every effort to make it so, lest should he be accused of switching allegiance in a new scramble for South Sudan by the big elephants, China and the United States of America.

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America is addicted to oil so is China, and we have got it in abundance in South Sudan. So who is our best bet?

America because they’re world superpower who in pursuit of their own interests brought about the CPA and China because they’re the emerging giants in Africa with limitless possibilities for trade but they’re our enemies’ friends. No wonder Mayardit is an ostrich amidst two elephants even though he‘s made it obvious America is agreeable to dine with after it helped in delivering the CPA for the marginalized but China has none and as a result, she has to pull up her socks to be a serious contender. She has to be more serious about cajoling Bashir to bring peace to Darfur and implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

While in China, President Kiir could have tackled the Darfur issue in his capacity as an independent President of South Sudan and Vice President of the Republic of Sudan, instead, "The Americans are happy that in the last talks about Darfur when these hybrid operations was agreed upon, China played a very positive role in that, and that was acknowledged with appreciation by the Americans."

And more aptly, "The message they (Americans) gave me was that 'If you are going to China you tell them to move to that positive direction and they will not hear our voice condemning the Olympics in China next year. But if they don't cooperate with us in getting a solution to the Darfur conflict, then we will continue to do the same to them, so you give that message to the Chinese authorities when you go there.'"

To wrap up, South Sudan and the disenfranchised African majority have reached a point where they deserve a strong and unselfish alliance with a superpower that can safeguard their interests.

While Salva’s visit was a step forward, the SPLM helmsman ought to be prepared to play tough the international political card.