Sudan’s Kiir holds triumphant Khartoum rally
May 30, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) Salva Kiir on Tuesday held his first political rally in Khartoum since taking up the post of first vice- president, vowing to bring peace to the violence-wracked nation.
Sudanese First Vice President, Salva Kiir, speaks during a meeting organized in Khartoum to celebrate the 23rd anniversary of the SPLM.
The event, attended in a festive atmosphere by around 20,000 supporters from north and south, came after Kiir and the leadership of his SPLM held their first high-level talks with the ruling National Congress Party (NCP).
Three days of talks with the NCP headed by former arch-foe President Omar al-Beshir culminated in a joint vow on Monday to work together to implement the peace deal that ended Africa’s longest-running war.
“It is our duty to cling to peace because it brings about development and stability,” Kiir told the mixed crowd of northerners and southerners. “The SPLM will continue to achieve its objectives of a new Sudan where justice prevails.”
Following the signing of the January 2005 peace deal, the SPLM joined a national unity government, ending the 21-year-old war between Beshir’s Islamist regime and mainly Christian southern rebels that killed 1.5 million people and displaced four million more.
Kiir said the historic rally marked the SPLM’s entry on the national political scene.
“Our meeting today is the beginning of the political action of the SPLM in the north,” he said in Arabic to cries of “Victory to the SPLM!”
“The SPLM is not southern Sudanese, it is for all of Sudan. Anybody who says the SPLM is a southern movement is a liar. It started in the south out of necessity, but like when you kiss a lady, you have to start somewhere.”
Many Sudanese were surprised to see the SPLM leader cracking jokes as he has a reputation for being a dour military leader, unlike his jovial predecessor John Garang who died in a helicopter crash last year.
“I promise you to continue in the steps of John Garang, I will steer the ship to safety and I want you all to help me.”
Kiir vowed to build on peace in the south to end rebellions in the western region of Darfur and in the east of the country.
“A comprehensive peace should not be confined to south Sudan, it should also include west and east,” he said, promising to do what he could to get recalcitrant rebel factions to sign a peace deal before a Wednesday deadline.
Only one faction of the main rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement, has agreed to the deal, with an SLM splinter group and the Justice and Development Movement so far refusing to sign.
Kiir also promised to get the millions of people displaced by the fighting in the south to return home, with money from Sudan’s burgeoning oil output paying for development after years of neglect.
“We are resolved to solve all problems before the end of the year, so that in 2007 we will devote our efforts to development,” he said.
(ST)