Southern militias still threaten Sudan peace deal

Dec 10, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The continued existence of militias is the biggest single threat to Sudan’s north-south peace, said the chairman of the commission tasked with monitoring the deal signed two years ago.

“At this stage, two years after the signing of CPA (Comprehensive Peace Agreement), there is no room for militias in South Sudan,” Norway’s Tom Vraalsen told reporters Sunday.

“We cannot accept this most serious violation of the CPA to continue,” said Vraalsen, who heads the Assessment and Evaluation Commission (AEC).

Khartoum and the former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army signed a peace agreement in January 2005, bringing an end to 21 years of civil fighting that is believed to have left some 1.5 million people dead.

Deadly clashes pitting former southern rebel forces against the regular northern army and an allied southern militia also erupted late last month in the city of Malakal in what was considered one of the most serious violations of the peace agreement.

Sudan’s oil wealth had been one of the main stumbling blocks in the negotiations that led to the peace agreement, and Vraalsen said it was also one of the main obstacles to its implementation.

“I have received very disturbing reports indicating that the CPA is being seriously violated in areas where oil is being produced and where seismic surveys are conducted,” said Vraalsen.

“The reports talk about extensive environmental degradation… the concern and interests of the local communities is totally disregarded,” he added.

The South Sudan Defence Forces, the militia involved in last month’s clashes in Malakal, is a southern militia opposed to the SPLA which was often used by Khartoum to protect oil fields during the war.

Vraalsen’s commission, whose creation was stipulated in the peace agreement, includes foreign and Sudanese officials who were involved in the protracted peace negotiations.

(AFP)