Western Equatoria governor returns from first official trip to Khartoum
September 1, 2010 (YAMBIO) – Western Equatoria governor Bangasi Joseph Bakosoro returned to the state on Tuesday after a two-week visit to Khartoum where he and other southern Sudan state governors attended an investment meeting. He met key Government of National Unity (GoNU) officials and had other engagements.
While in Khartoum, Bakosoro solicited Khartoum’s support to finance infrastructure and provide technical expertise to the media in the southern state.
On hand to receive the governor at Yambio airstrip were the speaker of Western Equatoria legislative assembly, Bukulu Edward Mandeson and some cabinet ministers.
Addressing his state ministers and top government officials at the state secretariat, Bakosoro said his “mission to Khartoum was successful because they (the ten southern Sudan governors) had a fruitful meeting with official[s] from GoNU chaired by Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir to discuss issues pertaining to potential investors aspiring to invest in places in Sudan.”
The governor said he “had chance to interact with Ministers at GoNU level especially Minster of Information and discussed with her the TV station in Yambio to be aided soon and to boost transmitter radius of Yambio FM to cover the entire sate as a whole.”
“While in Khartoum I had assigned state Minister of Physical Infrastructure to lobby for funds for the rehabilitations of feeder roads in Western Equatoria, as feeder roads are cardinal to the economic growth of farmers,” said Bakosoro.
He urged ministers in Western Equatoria state “to make contact with their line ministries in Khartoum in order to develop Western Equatoria as [we] are approaching the referendum.”
A referendum on southern independence is due to take place in January as part of a peace deal that ended over two decades of civil war between north and south.
Bakosoro said the Western Equatorian community in Khartoum told him they are willing to go to south Sudan to cast their votes. Even if they face challenges in terms of being scared to vote for separation in the north, still they are committed to come home and vote in January 2011, he said.
He urged the Referendum Task Force at state level “to speed up with the formation of committees at all levels of government set up to start civic education on the referendum to reach all areas in the State in time.”
Many aspects of the referendum, such as voter registration, border demarcation, future oil revenues, division of state assets and citizenship rights for northern Sudanese in the south and southern Sudanese in the north are all behind schedule or yet to be decided.
(ST)