Sudanese president says unity Cabinet formed
Sept 20, 2005 (KHARTOUM) — President Omar el-Bashir said Tuesday his unity Cabinet had been formed, ending weeks of tough negotiations between his party and former rebels and taking another step toward securing peace.
But el-Bashir did not immediately name the members of the Cabinet, an indication of how sensitive the process has been. Negotiations reportedly had hit a stumbling block over whether the one-time rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement or el-Bashir’s National Congress would get the energy and mining portfolio, a key ministry as the two parties work out how to share Sudan’s oil wealth.
A Cabinet with ministers from the SPLM and the National Congress was among the provisions hammered out in negotations that led to a January peace accord ending 21 years of war between the Arab Muslim-dominated north and the African Christian and animist south.
The accord provided for an autonomous south with its own army, national power and wealth sharing, religious freedom and a new constitution during a six-year interim period. After those six years, the 10 southern states will hold a referendum on independence.
Earlier Tuesday, Vice President Salva Kiir Mayardit said in a decree that Southern Sudan’s autonomous legislature would meet for the first time Sept. 27.
Kiir, an SPLM leader, said he had accepted nominations to the 170-member legislature made by local leaders. He did not immediately release their names.
The formation of the assembly is believed to have been the subject of intense negotiations among the SPLM, other southern parties and the National Congress.
The regional government was to have authority over the southern states administrations and work with the national government to safeguard “the rights and interests of the people of Southern Sudan.” The SPLM was to have 70 percent of its seats, the National Congress, which rules at the national level, 15 percent and other southern parties were to split the remaining 15 percent.
Kiir was sworn in as first vice president in the unity government in August, replacing the late John Garang, who died July 30 in a helicopter crash.
(AP/ST)