From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sun Dec 13 2009 - 15:09:07 EST
Sudan parties agree on referendum
Sunday, December 13, 2009
16:42 Mecca time, 13:42 GMT
The two main political parties in Sudan's north and south have agreed to
hold a key referendum promised over four years ago.
The deal on Sunday resolves issues that had threatened to undermine the 2005
peace accord - signed after decades of civil war and millions of deaths.
The south's dominant Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) will now
remain in a coalition government with President Omar Hasan al-Bashir's
northern National Congress Party (NCP).
Relations between the former foes had been strained, most recently last week
when authorities in Khartoum arrested two senior SPLM officials and scores
of their supporters during a protest.
Analysts have warned of a risk of a return to conflict if the parties could
not agree terms for laws supposed to pave the way to elections, due in
April, and a referendum on southern independence in 2011.
Both were promised under the original peace deal.
"We have reached agreement on three very important laws which have been
grounds for serious disagreements between the two parties," Pagan Amum, the
SPLM secretary general, told reporters.
Crucial meeting
He was speaking after a meeting between President al-Bashir, who heads the
NCP, and south Sudan's president and SPLM leader Salva Kiir.
Amum said the laws covered the national referendum, a consultation exercise
for people living in boundary areas between north and south Sudan and a
referendum on whether the oil-producing region of Abyei should join the
south.
NCP official Nafie Ali Nafie also confirmed a deal on those issues had been
reached during the meeting.
Amum said the two sides also agreed to form a committee to discuss remaining
issues, including differences over a security bill which the SPLM has argued
gave too many powers to security services.
Both sides have met repeatedly over the past year to try to break a deadlock
on the bills. The parties have announced breakthroughs before, but failed to
end long-term wrangling over the details of the peace accord.
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