UN chief shows concern over delays in Sudan’s CPA implementation

August 22, 2007 (NEW YORK) — UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern in a report Wednesday that Sudan’s military had not implemented a key part of accord which brought peace with the country’s rebellious south.

“The important deadline of 9 July 2007, intended to mark the full redeployment of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) to the north of the 1956 boundary line, was not met,” Ban said in the Security Council report published Wednesday.

“I call upon SAF immediately to remove all remaining regular elements from Southern Sudan, with the exception of those earmarked for joint integration units.”

The requirement for Sudan’s military to pull back from the country’s south came in the January 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement between Khartoum and the southern rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army.

The accord put an end to 21 years of civil war which killed 1.5 million people, and led to the deployment of a 10,000-man UN peacekeeping force in the region.

Ban also called on both sides to speed up the formation of integrated military units as called for in the accord, Ban saying this move had “central importance” to the entire peace process.

“The formation of these units is a prerequisite for full redeployment of SPLA forces from Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile States,” Ban said in the report.

“The joint integration units are also mandated to protect the Sudan’s oil fields, while oil installations themselves are to be demilitarized under the agreement… I strongly urge the parties to complete the assignment of troops in the joint integration units, which is already some nine months overdue.”

(AFP)