Donors, Darfur crisis are behind slow implementation of peace – envoy

Jan 13, 2006 (NAIROBI) — The Sudanese envoy in Kenya has blamed donors and the situation in Darfur for the slow implementation of the comprehensive peace agreement (CPA).

In an interview with the independent Sudan Radio Service (SRS), the Sudanese ambassador in Kenya, Ali Abdelrahman Nimeri said that the failure by donor countries to deliver on their promises has affected the implementation of the agreement.

According to Nimeri the ongoing conflict in Darfur has also contributed to the slow pace of implementing the CPA.

“what has been pledged from donors and governments was a big sum of money but nothing came. All the money came from the government of Sudan. Thanks to the hiked prices of oil. There is a lot of problems, there is the Darfur problem and the government is very busy with Darfur.”

Nimeri also blamed members of the SPLM in the government of national unity for doing little to resolve the Darfur conflict.

On January 9, 2005, the Sudanese government and the southern rebels signed a peace deal that put an end to a war that lasted 21years, killed 1.5 million people and displaced four million others.

But beside others internal conflicts in Eastern, and western Sudan, the fledgling peace agreement still faces sporadic violence and the huge challenges of reconstruction, mine-clearance and mass repatriation.

On the political level, one of the most irritating things is “the systematic effort” on the part of the ruling National Congress party to delay the implementation of the agreement,” as it was said by David Mozersky, from the International Crisis Group in a press ststament.

(ST)