From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Wed Oct 28 2009 - 09:09:36 EST
Kiir says chances of united Sudan are slim
Wednesday 28 October 2009 04:10.
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article32931
October 27, 2009 (KHARTOUM) - General Salva Kiir Mayardit, First Vice
President of the Republic of Sudan and President of the semi autonomous
region of Southern Sudan, said chances of united Sudan are slim and next to
impossibility.
However, he was quick to say there are hopes and possibilities that Sudan
may remain united given its history full of diversities and intricacies if
the ruling national congress party commits to peaceful implementation of the
Naivasha peace accord.
Kiir, who was talking to reporters after a meeting on Monday 26, with
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, to discuss Sudan's conflicts, said South
Sudan will be forced to succeed from the north in an upcoming referendum
because North has intentionally failed to make unity unattractive.
Referring to the famous quote of late Dr.John Garang De Mabior, he said, in
his culture and particularly in his home village, no man even if he is the
ugliest one loves and prefers marrying an ugly woman.
Therefore, it is the north to try by all means possible win back or restore
trust and confidence lost in them by selling better relations to southern
brothers and sisters, he said.
He said Khartoum government is never showing any sign of making unity an
attractive option for Christian and animist inhabiting south of the country.
Each time South tries seeking better relationship the north, its does the
opposite particularly those that reminds people of the past and hard
relationships the two regions had undergone, he commented.
Kiir was referring to Malakal and Abyei incidents considered to have been
instigated and sponsored by the ruling national congress party through the
use of proxy war with their allies such as militias.
Sudan's longest two-decade civil war ended in a 2005 peace agreement that
included a provision for a 2011 referendum for the southerners to choose if
they wanted to remain in the country.
Kiir also accused the government of failing to implement fully the peace
agreement including the demarcation of the oil-rich border region between
the north and the south.
The peace deal put an end to the 21-year-old civil war between north and
ex-rebels in the south that left 2 million people dead and 4 million
displaced.
But the deal is plagued by distrust between the two sides and has repeatedly
threatened to unravel, bringing to the two sides to the brink of war.
In the agreement, Sudan is to conduct posted parliamentary and presidential
elections in April 2010 as the first national elections that include South
Sudan in four decades as well as the referendum.
These elections are seen as crucial for keeping peace but disputes in recent
past have arisen between the two parties over referendum law and census
results, which are the basis for drawing election constituencies. They also
disagree over the rules for carrying out the referendum.
In Monday's statement Kiir refused to postpone both the election and the
referendum.
Ogaden rebels accuse Puntland of handing over youth to Ethiopia
Wednesday 28 October 2009 03:00.
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article32929
October 27, 2009 (NAIROBI) - Ogaden rebels accused the Somali Puntland
regional administration of handing over youth from southeast Ethiopia
troubled region to Addis Ababa government.
Last year the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) said Puntland regional
administration had sealed a secret deal with the Ethiopian government to
handover Oganden people and rebels to Addis Ababa.
Puntland Administration recently arrested a number of youth from Ogaden
region and and handed them over to the Ethiopian government, said Hussein
Mohamed Nur, ONLF communication officer.
In a statement to the independent Shebelle website Nur said Somaliland and
Puntland deliver Ogaden youth to the Ethiopian government. He added that his
group sent messages to the two administrations calling to stop such
cooperation.
The Ogaden rebels dismissed last September cooperation with the Islamist
insurgents in Somalia, Al Shebab who want to topple down the UN backed
government in Mogadishu.
The rebel group said not surprised by this accusations from the governor of
Somali officials who are "sponsored by Ethiopia," reaffirming that there
group does not interfere in the internal affairs of the Somali republic and
in fact has so far supported the new transitional government" despite the
close relations between some Somali officials and Addis Ababa.
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