Salva Kiir urges calm in southern Sudan
NEW SITE, Sudan, Aug 2 (AFP) — The new leader of southern Sudan’s ex-rebel group on Tuesday urged calm after the weekend death OF John Garang and vowed to pursue his predecessor’s commitment to the landmark peace deal signed with Khartoum in January.
As he stressed the need of following through on the agreement that ended 21 years of north-south civil war, General Salva Kiir also made clear the importance of a provision in the pact that allows southern Sudan to secede if it wants in 2011.
In his first comments to international journalists since replacing the late Garang as head of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) late Monday, the 54-year-old Kiir called on the country not to let Garang’s death compromise peace.
“The message is to remain calm and peaceful,” he told a small group of reporters here at the SPLM/A base where the body of the charismatic Garang was brought after it was recovered from the wreckage of a Ugandan helicopter that crashed Saturday.
“There cannot be any development when there is no peace,” Kiir said, expressing dismay at reports that Garang’s death had sparked deadly riots between north and south Sudanese in Khartoum and violent protests in parts of the southern Sudan.
Garang died just three weeks after being sworn in as first vice president of Sudan and president of southern Sudan, which under the January 9 peace deal, will be autonomous for six years before holding a referendum on secession.
As his longtime deputy and successor, Kiir is expected to take over those duties sometime after Garang’s funeral on Saturday in Juba, the town that will soon be the capital for the autonomous region of southern Sudan.
Kiir said he remained a firm supporter of the painstakingly negotiated agreement that ended 21 years of north-south conflict, Africa’s longest-running civil war, and is seen by many as a possible template for a settlement to the crisis in Sudan’s western Darfur region.
“The agreement … can restore the dignity of the people of Sudan,” he said, stressing that it gives the southern Sudanese the “right of self-determination” after the six year period of autonomy is over that began on July 9.
“We will have to stay for six years in an interim period and after, southern Sudan will be asked to determine if Sudan remains a united coutry or if they opt for their own country,” Kiir said.
“It is the decision of the people that matters,” he said outside a small building here where mourners were filing past Garang’s flag-draped coffin. “If they want to break away, that’s their decision and it should be respected.”
Asked whether independence was his objective, Kiir replied in the same enigmatic that Garang often used in answering similar questions. “Let us cross the bridge when we reach it,” he said.