NCP, SPLM vow to strengthen relations with Ethiopia’s ruling party
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
March 24, 2013 (Bahirdar, ETHIOPIA) – Delegations from the ruling parties of Sudan and South Sudan are among 13 countries taking part at the ninth organisational assembly of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which is being held in Bahirdar in Amhara state.
Sudan’s National Congress Party (NCP), South Sudan’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), the Communist Party of China, the Rwandan Patriotic Front and South Africa’s African National Congress, all sent delegations to express support and solidarity with the EPRDF, which has dominated politics in Ethiopia since Zenawi brought them to power in 1991.
Conveying solidarity messages, a Sudanese representative commended the role of Zenawi, describing him as a true African patriot who had dedicated his life to the renaissance of Ethiopia and Africa as a whole.
The Sudanese official reaffirmed that his country has always been a close friend of Ethiopia and will continue to be so.
Speaking on behalf of the NCP, the Sudanese delegation assured the EPRDF leadership that Sudan would continue to support its strategically important eastern neighbour.
The head of South Sudan’s delegation delivered greetings and best wishes from the country’s president, Salva Kiir, who is the chair of SPLM.
The representative from Juba commended Addis Ababa’s long-standing support to South Sudan, stressing that without the support of Ethiopia they would not have achieved independence in 2011 after decades of civil war with Sudan.
The SPLM representative said his party had been working side by side with EPRDF and affirmed that this will continue.
The representative also mentioned the role Ethiopia played to the recent agreement brokered in Addis Ababa between Sudan and South Sudan to implement a deal first signed in September last year to restart oil production and form a buffer zone on their tense and largely undemarcated border.
Ethiopian peacekeepers, who have already been deployed to the contested Abyei region, will be part of the United Nations force that will monitor the demilitarised zone.
“Now we feel that we are going to live in peace with our brothers in [the] north and you are going to supervise the implementation of this agreement”, the head of the South Sudanese delegation said.
The official noted a need for East African countries and countries in the continent as a whole to jointly work together to realise a united, democratic and prosperous Africa.
At the opening of the session, Ethiopian prime minister and EPRDF chairman, Hailemariam Dessalegn, said the assembly is an occasion for the ruling party to renew its pledges to the people to bring development and ensure implementation of designed policies and strategies.
Participants will review achievements and challenges faced during the past two-and-a- half-year period of the five-year Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) and will put new directives towards the journey of Ethiopian renaissance
Members will also elect the party’s new chairperson and deputy chairperson.
Four EPRDF affiliate political organisations and over 1,500 participants are attending the assembly.
EPRDF and the attending foreign political parties will hold a conference on democracy, developmental and good governance on the sidelines of the congress.
An EPRDF member participant told Sudan Tribune that the conference will be a good opportunity for foreign political parties to learn from the successes of the ruling Ethiopian party.
(ST)