Cookies for Sudan’s leaders?

The Washington Post had a story today on President Obama’s special envoy to Sudan, Air Force Maj. Gen. J. Scott Gration, and what Darfur advocates are calling his naive view of apparently trusting the Sudanese government:

Top administration officials are scheduled to meet Tuesday to discuss a major review of the United States’ Sudan policy. But even as that document is being finalized, U.S. diplomacy has remained mostly in the hands of Obama’s special envoy to Sudan, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. J. Scott Gration, who is pushing toward normalized relations with the only country in the world led by a president indicted on war-crimes charges.

Although Gration describes the approach as pragmatic and driven by a sense of urgency, his critics here and in the United States say it is dangerously, perhaps willfully, naive. During a recent five-day trip to Sudan, Gration heard from southern officials, displaced Darfurians, rebels and others who complained uniformly that he is being manipulated by government officials who talk peace even as they undermine it.

Still, at the end of the visit, Gration maintained a strikingly different perspective. He had seen signs of goodwill from the government of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, he said, and viewed many of the complaints as understandable yet knee-jerk reactions to a government he trusts is ready to change.

"We’ve got to think about giving out cookies," said Gration, who was appointed in March. "Kids, countries — they react to gold stars, smiley faces, handshakes, agreements, talk, engagement."

Darfur advocates take a dim view of the cookie strategy:

Gration’s detractors say his approach is based on a misunderstanding of how Bashir’s ruling party works. John Prendergast, co-chairman of the Enough Project, a human rights group advocating tougher, multilateral sanctions against Sudan, said Bashir and his top advisers respond only to pressure. "They do not respond to nice guys coming over and saying, ‘We have to be a good guest,’ " he said. "They eat these people for dinner."

Adam Mudawi, a Sudanese human rights activist who has seen envoys come and go, put it more bluntly: "In six months, he’ll find out," he said. "They are liars."

But in interviews during the trip, Gration said that Sudanese government officials have not lied to him. He spoke of new realities in Darfur, where a brutal government campaign has given way to banditry and fighting among rebel factions and tribes. Although many say the government has orchestrated the chaos, Gration spread the blame. Rebels have turned into criminal gangs and have not unified for peace talks, he said. And many displaced Darfurians are dealing with "psychological stuff" that is leading to unhelpful mistrust of the government, he said.

The White House immediately pushed back against the story, reports ABC News’ Jake Tapper:

This article wildly misrepresents the policy discussions that have occurred in the White House, with quotes that have been cobbled together out of context," said White House spokesman Tommy Vietor.

Says the senior administration official: "The story paints the picture of a wildly irresponsible policy; I feel good that it’s not our policy."

"The story seems to suggests our approach is to trust the government of Sudan at its word and provide incentives in hope that by providing incentives they will somehow change their behavior," says the official "That’s wildly inaccurate. There is no talk of incentives until there is a change of conditions on the ground — verifiable changes in conditions on the ground."