From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Wed Mar 10 2010 - 07:59:41 EST
South Sudan closes door on possible reschedule of referendum
Wednesday 10 March 2010
March 9, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese First Vice President and the
president of South Sudan Salva Kiir suggested today that he will not accept
any compromise on the holding of the 2011 referendum after several countries
in the region proposed delaying it until the situation is ripe for it.
Kiir speaking at the extraordinary summit of the Inter-Governmental
Authority on Development (IGAD) in Nairobi said that the South is concerned
more over referendum than anything else including the April elections
“The conduct of the elections is not a pre-requisite to the conduct of the
referendum,” Kiir said at the first IGAD gathering on Sudan since the 2005
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between North and South it helped
broker.
“The people of southern Sudan attach more importance to the referendum than
the elections. For them the right of self-determination is one of their
biggest political achievements in the CPA and they will defend it at any
cost,” he added.
Kiir’s remarks appear to be a direct response to increasing regional
pressure from countries like Egypt and Eritrea that the self determination
process be placed on hold as the situation in the south is unstable. The
SPLM chief’s tone stressed that everything should go as originally planned
in the peace accord.
“I ardently appeal to you all that the CPA is fully implemented and as per
its timetable. I urge you all to recognize and respect the choice of the
people of southern Sudan during the 2011 referendum," he said.
Leaders of the six-nation IGAD east African body that met in Nairobi to
assess the implementation of the CPA issued a statement to temper South
Sudan’s rush to referendum saying that uncertainty in the oil rich nation
posed a threat to their own economies and peace.
Ugandan President Yoweri Musievini, Djibouti’s Ismail Omar Guelleh,
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki
attended the meeting.
A surge of ethnic violence in South Sudan has resulted in the deaths of more
than 2,500 people and forced 350,000 to flee their homes in 2009, according
to a report issued by ten aid groups ahead of the referendum and the April
elections which will be the first multi-party polls since 1986.
The clashes raised fears over the stability of a post-secession South left
lingering resentments in a region already riven by traditional disputes over
territory and cattle.
The Sudanese Second Vice president and the representative of the ruling
National Congress Party (NCP) at the conference Ali Osman Taha said the
north will respect whatever choices made by Southerners but that they are
hopeful for unity.
"While we re-affirm our unequivocal commitment to respect the choice of the
people of southern Sudan, we clearly state that our vision and hope that
unity of Sudan will be the free choice and outcome of the referendum," said
Taha.
IGAD Secretary General Mahboub Maalim urged the bloc’s leaders to carefully
consider the events before and after the two key political events.
“For the elections... we must ponder its seriousness and the implication in
regional security, the CPA as well as the general welfare of the people of
Sudan,” he told the gathering.
Speakers at the summit stressed both parties must immediately begin
negotiations on post-referendum arrangements. The two sides split the
revenue from oil reserves found in southern territory, but no agreement has
been made about whether revenue-sharing would continue in the case of
Southern independence
They also called on the Sudan government to "ensure the removal of obstacles
to a free and fair election," according to a statement.
Sudan’s North-South civil war killed an estimated 2 million people and
forced 4 million to flee.
(ST)
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