Vice President vows to preserve Sudan’s territorial integrity

By Anoushka Marashlian, Global Insight.

Sep 2, 2005 — Vice President Salva Kiir has vowed to preserve Sudan’s territorial integrity, following talks in Cairo (Egypt) with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Kiir’s unexpected rise to the Sudanese vice presidency, following the death of Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) leader and veteran southern politician John Garang in a helicopter crash last month, raised concerns that he harboured a secessionist agenda. Kiir added that he would welcome the inclusion of more northern Sudanese opposition groups into the new power-sharing arrangement. He is expected to hold talks today with representatives from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Following the talks between the two men, the office of the Egyptian president announced that an Egyptian consulate was to be set up in the southern Sudanese city of Juba.

Significance: Kiir is reassuring those fearful of his suspected secessionist ambitions as he commits himself to preserving the territorial integrity of a united Sudan. Owing to its own geo-political interests and dependency on water from the River Nile, the Egyptian leadership will have stressed the importance of safeguarding Sudan’s unity in its meeting with the as-yet-untested vice president.