Peace process will continue – Sudanese first vice-president

Text of report in English by Sudanese news agency Suna website, by BBC Monitoring Middle East

Aug 23, 2005 (Rumbek) — First Vice-President of the republic and president of the Government of Southern Sudan, Lt-Gen Salva Kiir Mayardit, has affirmed that the peace process will continue to realize the objectives and principles that had been sought by late Dr John Garang.

Addressing a mass rally in Rumbek town Tuesday [23 August], Lt-Gen Mayardit stressed the importance of the implementation of the peace agreement to be faithful to the memory of late Dr John Garang.

He said his priorities as president of the Government of Southern Sudan would be completed if the constitution of the south and formation of the government of the south and the governments of the southern states [took place], calling on the citizens of southern Sudan to stick to the slogan of peace, unity and development.

Lt-Gen Mayardit reiterated [his] keenness on negotiations with all armed southern factions for providing security in the south and implementing the repatriation programmes for the displaced persons and refugees.

He pointed out that the Lord’s Resistance Army [LRA] poses a security threat in south Sudan, asking it to search [for a] solution for its problem with the Ugandan government, saying if the LRA does not want to find a solution for its problem they should quit south Sudan.

The first vice-president of the republic and president of the Government of Southern Sudan called on the citizens of the south to be quit [as published] and engage in work and production and surpass the bitterness of the past, saying that the committee on investigation of the causes of the crash of Dr John Garang plane would answer the questions related to the causes of the crash of the plane.