Sudan lays bare reservations over AU roadmap, IGAD role
May 2, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – A Sudanese official explained on Wednesday why his country is reluctant to fully accept the African Union’s (AU) roadmap on the conflict with South Sudan.
In an interview published on Wednesday by the Sudanese Media Center (SMC), a pro-government news website, the official spokesman of Sudan’s foreign ministry, Al-Obayd Adam Marawih, stressed that Khartoum’s acceptance of the roadmap is “preliminary” due to a “great number of reservations.”
Marawih revealed that among these reservations is the three months deadline since, he said, previous experiences proved that South Sudan is “not willing to reach a solution.”
Furthermore, he said that Khartoum is not happy with the AU’s double-dealing as evidenced by the fact that it has already referred the roadmap to the UNSC for endorsement.
Today the UNSC voted a resolution threatening Sudan and South Sudan with sanctions if they failed to conclude negotiations within the three months ultimatum given by the AU.
“We believe it is inappropriate for one subject to be handled by two organizations at the same time,” he said.
He further added despite all of its reservations, Khartoum still prefers the AU as the “best place” to discuss issues of the two countries.
This sentiment, however, is not shared by South Sudan whose officials repeatedly express distrust in the mediation of the AU, led by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, and call for the involvement of IGAD which mediated the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the two countries.
Sudan is known to be deeply distrustful of the IGAD whose member states include Uganda, a country Khartoum accuses of being biased in favor of South Sudan.
When asked about Sudan’s position on the involvement of IGAD, Marawih did not mince his words.
“We have already informed the AU and the UNSC about the negative role played by Uganda in acts of aggression against Sudan, and it is for this reason that we have refused and we will refuse in the future any role by IGAD in mediation between Sudan and South Sudan”, he said. “IGAD countries are not impartial.”
Further criticism of the AU roadmap and involvement of IGAD came from Sudan’s presidential adviser Ghazi Salah Al-Din who warned in a commentary published on Monday against accepting the AU roadmap.
“The [AU] resolution [roadmap] is full of shortcomings and outright bias in favor of the [Sudan People’s Liberation] Movement [South Sudan’s ruling Party].”
The Sudanese official wrote that the contents of the AU roadmap are identical in “languages and ideas” to the positions of the United States (US) government.
He accused IGAD of being an organization that executes “Western agendas” and urged popular, legal and official resistance to water down the roadmap.
(ST)