Garang holds first press conference in Khartoum
KHARTOUM, July 20, 2005 (SUNA) — First Vice President John Garang De Mabior has stressed that although the two parties to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement CPA follow the provisions of the Interim Constitution on the question of Abyei, still what was important was the brotherly coexistence of the people in area of Abyei.
He said the Abyei Boundary Commission report which was submitted to the Presidency of the Republic recently would never have negative effects on the area adding that the people there have been living side by side and with each other for hundreds of years. He said he would be working for deepening relations and peaceful coexistence among the people in the area, pointing out that this would be the responsibility of the Government of National Unity.
Garang said forming the caretaker administration in the south was in implementation of the Interim Constitution and that the percentages cited in the Agreement would be respected when the Southern Sudan Constitution is formulated and then the southern Sudan government is formed.
He said the diversity would then be reflected. He stressed that the current government was only a caretaker government. He stressed even in this case he had kept one of the governors (General Clement Wani) in the caretaker administration.
The First Vice President stressed that he would be doing his level best to help reaching a settlement for the Darfur and the eastern Sudan problem. He said Sudan could not enjoy peace in southern Sudan, in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile without having peace in Darfur, and the east.
He stressed that peace in Sudan should be a comprehensive and just peace in all the country so that the whole country is peaceful. He outlined five points that have to be tackled for the peace to be comprehensive in the country.
He said this includes settlement of differences in Darfur and in Eastern Sudan, inclusion of all parties in the peace process and in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the dissolution of the problem of the militias in the south and putting an end to the question of the so-called Lord Resistance Army (LRA).
He said the south-south dialogue would continue and that a solution would be found for the southern militias who should either join the SPLA or the Sudanese army and that in both cases they would be disciplined by the party to which they adhere. He said this was in implementation of the provision of the CPA and the Interim Constitution.
Garang has meanwhile said that a National Petroleum Commission has been formed in accordance with the provisions of the Interim Constitution and that he was co-chair of that commission which will review all difference regarding all questions. He said the commission would be under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic and the President of the southern Sudan government. He said when this commission starts work it would settle dispute over the question of Total and White Nile company.
The first vice president has pointed out that he would be leaving for the south on Friday to visit the town of Rumbeik.
Garang told the first press conference he held in Khartoum that he was doing very well with his two partners in the presidency, the President of the Republic Field Marshal Omar Al Bashir and Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha.
He said relationships in the presidency were excellent and good, and that they were businesslike relationship as well.
He said the members of the presidency started knowing each other and that they would continue to improve these good relationships to become more effective.
He said he has found good cooperation from the various ministers and colleagues in the government in Khartoum.
He said he was briefed on the activities of the various ministries namely the Ministry of Finance and National Economy, the Ministry of Mining and Energy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as a briefing on the Abuja peace talks.
He said he also met with lawyers and university professors and others.
He also briefed the press conference on the decisions he has taken and the various activities he was involved in since coming to Khartoum some two weeks ago.
He expressed his satisfaction to the popular reception he found at the Green Square in Khartoum.
The First Vice President was introduced to the press men by the Minister of Information and Communication.
Garang stressed that in his two weeks in Khartoum he received many people and that he did not concentrate on other marginalized or the southerners alone but all the people who came to visit him.
He told the press conference that he envisage a Sudan that would contribute to the progress of his community and that Sudan should no longer be only accompanying other nations but to be part of this process.
Garang said he has never set a foot in Israel or studied there as being circulated at one time by the local press.
He said improving relations with neighbors and setting the foreign policy of the Sudan would be the responsibly of the national unity government when it is formed.
He said former alliances the SPLM organized have to be incorporated in the new political situation in the country.