The EU as a model for Sudan

As the referendum on independence for southern Sudan approaches, President Omar al-Bashir has made several conciliatory statements. And now he’s raised the idea of a European Union-style arrangement with the south should it opt for independence. Reuters has the story: President Omar Hassan al-Bashir told the Al-Jazeera TV channel southerners could also be offered rights ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

As the referendum on independence for southern Sudan approaches, President Omar al-Bashir has made several conciliatory statements. And now he's raised the idea of a European Union-style arrangement with the south should it opt for independence. Reuters has the story:

As the referendum on independence for southern Sudan approaches, President Omar al-Bashir has made several conciliatory statements. And now he’s raised the idea of a European Union-style arrangement with the south should it opt for independence. Reuters has the story:

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir told the Al-Jazeera TV channel southerners could also be offered rights of free residency, movement, work and ownership in Sudan after the split, but added they could not be dual nationals. [snip]

"We are not speaking now about joint defense. But there are now discussions about establishing a union between two partners to look for joint interests in security and economics and development like the European Union," said Bashir.

Update: a commenter writes, "[h]e really seems to be grasping for straws. If I didn’t despise him I would actually pity him."

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

Tags: EU, Sudan

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