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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sat Sep 25 2010 - 07:59:58 EDT
<http://allafrica.com/sudan/> Sudan: Speech of the AUHIP Chairperson, Thabo
Mbeki, at the UN High Level Meeting on Sudan: New York, 24 September 2010
Thabo Mbeki
25 September 2010
_____
Document
New York - The text of a speech by the Chairperson of the African Union High
Level Implementation Panel on Sudan (AUHIP), Thabo Mbeki, at the UN High
Level Meeting on Sudan in New York:
This meeting on Sudan confirms that Africa and the rest of the world care a
great deal about the Sudanese nation and its citizens. The statements we
have heard this afternoon confirm that the African Union and the United
Nations and their member states stand firmly behind the Comprehensive Peace
Agreement and its faithful implementation, and also share a common
commitment to help achieve peace, justice and reconciliation for the people
of Darfur.
Those who have spoken ahead of us, including their Excellencies the UN
Secretary General, the Chairperson of the AU Commission, the First Vice
President of Sudan and President of the Government of South Sudan and the
Vice President of Sudan, have already identified what needs to be done
successfully to address the challenges ahead.
Accordingly we speak mainly to emphasise some of the points that have
already been made.
In this regard we would like to take advantage of this important meeting to
express our sincere appreciation of the sustained and unreserved cooperation
extended to our Panel by the Governments of Sudan and South Sudan, as well
as the NCP and the SPLM. We are also privileged to enjoy similar relations
with UNMIS and its head, SRSG Haile Menkerios, UNAMID and its head JSR
Ibrahim Gambari, as well as the Special Envoys such as US Envoy Gen Scott
Gration.
This has created the possibility for all of us to interact with one another
virtually on a daily basis to attend to the many detailed matters that have
to be addressed to ensure the faithful implementation of the CPA and the
resolution of the conflict in Darfur.
We would also like to assure H.E. Mr Ben Mkapa of our readiness to extend
such support as may be necessary and appropriate to him and the important UN
Panel on the Referenda in Sudan he has agreed to lead.
Similarly we would like to commend to this meeting the International Sudan
Consultative Forum established at the May 8 meeting in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, which is jointly convened by the African Union and the United
Nations. We consider this to be a vitally important mechanism which enables
the international community to coordinate its activities relating to Sudan,
minimising the possibility of uncoordinated interventions which would hinder
rather than help the Sudanese processes.
We would also like to assure this important meeting of our sensitivity to
the sense of urgency which attaches to what has to be done to support the
people of Sudan as they confront the challenges this meeting has been
addressing, a sense of urgency which must also inform the engagements of the
Sudanese parties.
In this context we will therefore continue actively to interact with these
parties to help ensure that the outstanding matters are addressed. These
include:
* the South Sudan Referendum;
* a holistic resolution to the issue of Abyei;
* the demarcation of the North-South border;
* the Popular Consultations in South Kordofan and Blue Nile;
* the Post-Referendum Arrangements;
* the security arrangements relating to North and South Sudan;
* improved security in Darfur;
* the voluntary return of refugees and IDPs to their homes, and the related
early recovery and development programmes;
* justice and reconciliation in Darfur; and,
* the conclusion of a Darfur Global Political Agreement, owned by the people
of Darfur as a whole.
The leaders and people of Sudan confront difficult challenges which will
have a profound impact on their country and their lives, and indeed on the
rest of Africa. We trust that this important meeting will convey to them an
unequivocal message of support, as well as the attendant incentives that
would convey to them a message of hope about a future of peace, development,
a better life for all, mutually beneficial cooperation among themselves, and
normal relations with the rest of the world.
In conclusion, Mr Chairman, let me emphasise Africa's absolute commitment to
the people of Sudan. Africa will do its utmost to ensure that commitments
to the CPA and to a resolution of the conflict in Darfur are honoured in
full. The Sudanese are a cherished part of us, as Africans, and will remain
so, whether they choose to be one country or two.
Thank you.
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