Naivasha mediator calls world to back Sudan’s peace deal
Feb 23, 2006 (NAIROBI) — Kenya’s special envoy to Sudan peace process Lazarus Sumbeiywo on Thursday called on the international community to back the Sudan’s north-south peace dealto guarantee its sustainability.
Sumbeiywo warned that Sudan risks falling back to war unless the international community comes in urgently to prop the implementation of the landmark peace accord signed early last yearafter several years of protracted negotiations.
“Walking from war to peace is uncharted territory. Moving from peace to war has been charted,” Sumbeiywo told journalists after presiding over the celebrations to mark the World Understanding and Peace Day organized by the Rotary Club International.
The chief mediator said that the peace process was treading virgin grounds which needed a lot of local and international efforts to sustain or the gains would be lost.
The chief mediator’s comments come as Sudanese political parties exchange criticisms over the slow implementation of the peace deal sparked by Roads Minister Rebecca Garang when she accused Khartoum of dragging its feet in the implementation.
“It is uncharted territory, every step goes to new ground, we expected a situation like this but as long as they stick to the agreed principles, they will still deliver to the peace dividends that the Sudanese have been waiting for,” Sumbeiywo said.
The former Kenyan army commander who was instrumental in the Sudan peace process which later culminated in the signing of the landmark agreement, however, expressed optimism that north-south peace deal signed a year ago will hold despite its sluggish implementation.
“The road to peace is never smooth. We expected obstacles in the implementation of peace agreement and as long as Khartoum and southern Sudanese rebels do not deviate from it, then peace would prevail,” Sumbeiywo said.
The 21 years of civil war between the former rebels of the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army and the Khartoum-based government, which ended with the signing of a peace deal in January 2005, killed at least two million people, uprooted four million more and forced some 550,000 to flee to neighboring countries.
(Xinhua/ST)