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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Tue Aug 31 2010 - 13:55:12 EDT
Southern Sudan President Rules Out Unilateral Declaration of Independence
Frank Wilson | 31 Aug 2010
World Politics Review <http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/>
JUBA, Sudan -- In an exclusive interview, Southern Sudan President Salva
Kiir Mayardit told World Politics Review that he doesn't think "there is any
point where southerners will declare a unilateral independence."
The semi-autonomous region of Southern Sudan will hold a referendum in
January 2011 on whether to secede from the North. The vote is one of the
final steps of a comprehensive peace agreement
<http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/681/north-and-south-sudan-a-tou
gh-road-toward-lasting-peace> (CPA) signed in 2005 that ended the country's
two-decade long civil war
<http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/892/sudan-unresolved-north-sout
h-conflict-risks-new-crisis-beyond-darfur> .
At a Congressional hearing
<http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/111/win072909.pdf> (.pdf) last year,
former U.S. envoy to Sudan Roger Winter said the South's ruling party, the
Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), may "be forced into unilaterally
declaring its independence because its CPA-mandated referendum is frustrated
by Khartoum's actions and/or the hollow commitments of the international
community."
More recently, Nafie Ali Nafie, the deputy leader of Sudan's ruling
political party, the National Congress Party (NCP), told reporters in
Khartoum on Aug. 19 that the South's leaders are "not supportive of Sudan's
unity and want to go around the country's issues." He said a unilateral
declaration of independence would be "political suicide," according to local
media.
In his interview with WPR, Kiir ruled out the possibility. "It is not in our
agenda, and we don't think that there will be a condition that will force us
in the South to declare an independent Southern Sudan without the process
that we have agreed upon," he said.
Inside his office in Juba, Kiir told WPR that both sides should ensure that
the referendum moves forward as agreed. "Both parties should be committed to
the conduct of the referendum, freely without any hindrance," he said. "So
I'm sure -- and I hope -- the referendum will be conducted according to the
agreement that we have signed."
Southerners are widely expected to vote overwhelmingly for secession. If
they do, a six-month interim period would follow before independence takes
effect. Details surrounding the process are still being worked out by the
referendum commission.
Sudan's ruling partners, the SPLM of the mostly Christian South and the NCP
of the predominantly Muslim North, have been bickering over the appointment
of a secretary general to the referendum commission, which will organize the
vote.
Last week, both parties agreed to name a northerner to fill the position,
with the deputy secretary general coming from the South. A local news
outlet, the Sudan Tribune, reported that U.S. envoy Scott Gration "persuaded
the SPLM's leadership to concede the position."
While officially remaining neutral as one of the backers of the CPA, the
United States has been supporting the South's independence movement. The
U.S. Embassy in Khartoum announced in a press release last week that it has
sent retired Ambassador Princeton Lyman to Sudan to help with negotiations
between the North and South before the critical vote.
Much of the discussion will focus on the boundary demarcations along the
oil-rich North-South border. Oil money accounts for 93 percent of the
South's budget, and the think tank, Small Arms Survey, reports
<http://www.smallarmssurveysudan.org/pdfs/HSBA-SWP-20-Armed-Violence-Souther
n-Sudan.pdf> (.pdf) that the South now controls
<http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/207/oil-disputes-raise-tension-
among-southern-sudan-factions> about 82 percent of Sudan's oil fields.
However, the South has no oil refineries and no ports to export the oil on
its own. A proposed pipeline would transport the oil south to Kenya for
export, instead of sending the South's oil up to the northern-controlled
city of Port Sudan as is currently the case.
"This is something we are going to talk about in the coming period," Kiir
explained in the WPR interview. "In the post-referendum arrangements, there
is the issue of oil, not only whether to be pumped through Port Sudan or a
new pipeline going southwards. But also, do we share it with the North or
don't we share it? All these things, we are going to talk about them."
But the North has been trying to stall the referendum, questioning the
stability of Southern Sudan.
The U.N. recently <http://www.unhcr.org/4bed660a9.html> reported that
continued attacks by the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army
<http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/4319/war-is-boring-lords-resist
ance-army-threatens-south-sudan> (LRA) against civilians in Sudan, the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the Central African Republic have
killed nearly 2,000 people and displaced another 30,000.
Kiir said the violence is not going to affect the referendum. "It is not the
first time that the LRA has been killing people in Southern Sudan," he said,
describing the LRA fighters as "terrorists" who "terrorize the civilian
population [and] innocent people."
"There are people who are sending them," Kiir said, adding that the LRA
continues to get its "logistics" from the government of Sudan's President
Omar al Bashir in Khartoum. "This is something that will live with us and
we'll have to sort it out," he continued.
Another security issue potentially jeopardizing the referendum is the
mini-rebellion of former Sudan People's Liberation Army Gen. George Athor.
The renegade general ran for governor in the country's April elections and
lost. He now claims the vote was rigged. Troops loyal to Athor have since
clashed with the SPLA, resulting in dozens of deaths.
"The rebellion of Gen. George Athor is not the first in the history of the
world. There are people, when they lose elections, they tend to resort to
rebellion, like what George Athor has done," said Kiir. "Now that he's a
rebel, there are ways of bringing him back: through peaceful means, which he
is resisting. And if the peaceful negotiations fail, of course, to deal with
the rebels, you fight them. That is the last resort for us, and we will have
to do it."
The SPLM's secretary general claimed in July that the NCP is providing
material support to Athor in an attempt to destabilize the region ahead of
the independence referendum.
At the swearing in of members of the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission
this weekend, the U.N.'s special representative in Sudan said the United
Nations is "committed" to seeing the referendum carried out in "a free, fare
and transparent manner." Much now depends on whether Khartoum is, too.
Frank Wilson is a freelance reporter based in Southern Sudan who also works
for a non-governmental organization in Sudan. He used a pseudonym for this
article to avoid potential conflicts with local authorities.
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