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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Wed Oct 27 2010 - 17:17:42 EDT
INTERVIEW-Sudan south eyes settlement on disputed Abyei
Wed Oct 27, 2010 5:34pm GMT
* Abyei the flashpoint of north-south conflict
* Washington proposed that south annex Abyei
* South could offer financial package to north in exchange
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Sudan's south is ready to offer the north a
financial package to soften the blow of secession if it agrees to allow
southern annexation of the oil-producing Abyei region, a senior former
southern rebel said on Wednesday.
Both the north and the south claim the central Abyei area, which is due to
hold a referendum to decide which part of Sudan it will join on Jan. 9,
2011, the same day southerners are due to vote in a referendum on
independence from the north.
But the north and south have been unable to agree on who should be allowed
to vote in the Abyei referendum, raising questions about whether it can go
ahead and leading mediators to to come up with alternative solutions.
Luka Biong, minister of cabinet affairs in the coalition government formed
after a 2005 north-south peace deal, told Reuters the south had accepted a
U.S. suggestion that it annex Abyei by presidential decree if the referendum
did not go ahead.
To compensate the north for agreeing to a peaceful settlement along these
lines, the south would agree to arrange a financial package.
He said this could be in the form of an interest-free loan to the north to
cover up to half the loss in oil revenues if the south secedes.
The south would also create a development fund from Abyei's oil revenues for
Sudan's Missiriya nomads, who move south through Abyei a few months a year
to graze cattle. The Missiriya tribes would also be granted citizenship
rights in the event the Abyei referendum did not take place.
"Abyei could be a flashpoint for not having peace -- this is for the sake of
peace," said Biong, a senior member of the Sudan People's Liberation
Movement (SPLM), the grouping of former southern rebels. "It's bigger than
just Abyei."
He said such a settlement could only happen if an Abyei vote became
impossible and must be announced before the Jan. 9 southern plebiscite and
implemented before July 9, 2011 when the peace process formally ends.
The northern National Congress Party (NCP) says the Missiriya should have
full voting rights in Abyei alongside the Dinka Ngok, who farm the land all
year round, and other residents. The SPLM rejects this.
Biong said Washington feared the dispute over Abyei would end up leading to
conflict and had therefore proposed the settlement.
"They put this proposal ... having a presidential decree to return Abyei
back to the south and the Missiriya to have dual citizenship -- we accepted
it," Biong said.
Under a 2005 peace deal a semi-autonomous southern government took 50
percent of the revenues from wells in the south, a majority of the 470,000
barrels per day output.
But if the south secedes, it will want all revenues from the southern
fields.
Sudan's north-south civil war was fought over issues including religion,
oil, ethnicity and ideology and claimed some 2 million lives. Most analysts
predict the south will vote to secede but a lack of agreement over Abyei,
citizenship, oil sharing and the north-south border has raised fears of
renewed conflict.
(Editing by Noah Barkin)
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
Kenya to move Sudan summit, denies Bashir pressure
Wed Oct 27, 2010 10:38am GMT
* Plans to move meeting to Ethiopian capital
* ICC has asked Kenya to arrest Sudan's Bashir
* Kenyan minister says not acting because of ICC pressure
NAIROBI, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Kenya is trying to move a regional meeting on
Sudan's political future to Ethiopia, but not because it is under pressure
to arrest the Sudanese president, the Kenyan foreign minister said on
Wednesday.
Sudan's leader, Omar Hassan al Bashir, is expected to attend a summit of the
regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) this weekend amid
fears that a January referendum on South Sudan's independence will not take
place on time.
The summit was to take place in Kenya, and the International Criminal Court
(ICC) had demanded that Kenya act on an ICC arrest warrant against Bashir,
who faces charges of genocide over the counter-insurgency campaign in
Darfur. [ID:nLDE69P18V]
Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula said on Wednesday it was logical for
the meeting to take place at the African Union's (AU) headquarters in Addis
Ababa.
"We are trying to see if we can have it in Addis, which is the seat of the
AU (African Union), so that the twin bodies of IGAD and the AU itself can
deal with the issues, in preparation for the Jan. 9 referendum," Wetangula
told Reuters by phone.
Ethiopia has confirmed Addis Ababa's readiness to host the meeting,
Wetangula said, denying Kenya was caving in to pressure at home and abroad
to detain Bashir if he set foot on Kenyan soil.
"We have no demands from the ICC and we are not the arresting agents of the
ICC so that is not an issue. The issue is we wanted broader attendance,"
Wetangula said.
Kenya was heavily criticised by foreign governments for failing to arrest
Bashir when he visited Nairobi in late August for a ceremony to enact a new
Kenyan constitution. [ID:nMCD730308]
Kenya, a signatory to the Rome statute establishing the ICC, is itself
facing investigation by the court in relation to the post-election violence
of early 2008.
"We have not and we will not divert any meetings out of Nairobi because of
ICC. ICC does not have a hold on Kenya, we are a signatory to a treaty
establishing it so we cannot live under fear over a treaty that we are just
a party to," he said.
Wetangula said the country's interests would always come first. "Our
strategic interests are more important than the ill-founded criticism that
people level at us." (Reporting by Duncan Miriri; editing by Richard Lough
and Tim Pearce)
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
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