Toby Parek unanimously re-elected SANU President

By Isaac Vuni

April 17, 2009 (JUBA) – Party delegates have unanimously re-elected Dr. Toby Madut Parek to head the Sudan African National Union (SANU) at the party’s second national convention. The president will serve a five-year term of office.

In his acceptance speech, Parek appealed to all party members to fight tribalism that has divided marginalized Sudanese and outlined an aim for “Unity in diversity.”

Parek, who hails from Eastern Equatoria State as governor and bishop, added that marginalized Sudanese have suffered a lot because of the destructive war that derailed schools and infrastructure particularly in southern Sudan.

Engineer Teresa Ciricio was deputized as first vice president of the party and Rev. William Ruwyi as second deputy president of the party

The convention was at Star Hotel in Juba under the theme “Good Implementation of the CPA and decentralized system of government are Key factors for making unity attractive,” 47 years after the first convention.

There are nine parties in south Sudan: the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), National Congress Party(NCP), Sudan African National Union (SANU), United Democratic Front (UDF), Union of Sudan African Party (USAP), South Sudan Democratic Forum (SSDF), United South Sudan Party (USSP), Sudan Labour Party (SLP) and Covenant Democratic Party (CDP).

As the Sudan is supposed to be beginning its democracy, this is a big challenge because the country has been ruled by single parties and military dictatorships throughout much of its history since independence, although other political parties have existed. In the south, critics say that accountability, transparency, and inclusiveness are still lacking in the Government of Southern Sudan..

The two major parties signatory to the CPA are not fully implementing its content as negotiated in Kenya. Division along ethnic and party lines dominates the political culture in Sudan.

SANU is one of the oldest parties in the country. While in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, southern politicians founded the Sudan African Closed District National Union (SACDNU) in 1962 under the leadership of Joseph Oduho Aworu, but later shifted to Kampala, Uganda and changed the name to Sudan African National Union (SANU) that operated in dissent from exile and within the south, subsequently negotiating the first political settlement with the ruling Khartoum government in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa under supervision of World Council of Churches, ending seventeen years of conflict on February 27, 1972.

The accord lasted for eleven years of relative peace.

(ST)