Sudan Wants Namibian Help

Windhoek, Feb 01, 2005 (The Namibian/All Africa Global Media) — The Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) Regional Representative to southern Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands, Dr Barnaba Benjamin, has asked Namibia to be part of the international peacekeeping force to be sent to Sudan.

The United Nations and African Union are expected to send a 10 000-strong peacekeeping force to southern Sudan to monitor the implementation of a peace agreement signed earlier this month.

In an exclusive interview with Nampa at the end of last week, Benjamin said his country wants Namibia and other southern African countries to form part of the force.

“With the experience that Namibia, Angola, Zimbabwe and South Africa have with the liberation movements, it will be helpful if these countries could help in contributing to peace in our country,” said Benjamin.

“SPLM wants Namibia to be there as part of its responsibility of seeing peace prevail in Africa,” he said.

Benjamin, who met with President Sam Nujoma, Deputy Minister of Foreign Lempy Lucas and Minister of Higher Education, Training and Employment Creation Nahas Angula, thanked the Namibian Government, and the Swapo Party in particular, for their support of his movement.

“Now we are going back home to be part of the implementation of the referendum and elections in six and half years’ time.

Namibians have been sympathetic to our cause of obtaining eternal peace in Sudan and I appreciate it on behalf of my movement,” he said.

He said many Sudanese refugees would soon return home.

About four million Sudanese have fled the country and live as refugees in other countries.

The UN plans to help them return within 18 months.

The peace agreement, which put an immediate ceasefire into place, is the culmination of lengthy negotiations that kicked off in earnest in Kenya in early 2002.

It ended 21 years of civil war in Sudan, which killed about two and a half million people.