Sudan’s ruling parties agree to resolve differences
Feb 18, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan’s ruling parties are seeking to relaunch their strained partnership after a period of mutual sniping and chilly relations, Sudanese media said.
President Omar al-Beshir’s National Congress Party (NCP) and the southern Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) led by Vice President Silva Kiir have agreed in principle for the two leaders to meet to “resolve their differences,” which revolve largely around the application of the two-year-old peace agreement.
Twenty years of civil war between north and south ended in January 2005 with a power sharing agreement that put the former antagonists into the same government. But distrust and public disputes have continued.
“The two partners have decided to open a new page in their relations,” said several dailies commenting on a late night meeting on Saturday between the number two at the NCP, Ali Othman Mohammed and his SPLM counterpart Pagan Amum.
Representatives of the parties have also met to reactivate various joint institutions of the government and restart a dialogue about implementing the landmark peace accord.
Relations between the two parties reached a low point in the Nigerian capital of Abuja on January 9, the second annivesary of the peace deal, when the two leaders took the opportunity publicly to air their differences with each accusing the other of dragging his feet over the accord.
The main differences between the two involve the continuing presence of armed militias in each movement which are meant to be integrated into the armed forces, the disputed region of Abye and the transparency over oil revenues going to the semi-autonomous government in the south.
There have been several charges of corruption levelled against the southern administration, enough that the SPLM leader himself pledged on February 13 to follow up on the accusations.
In particular, Kiir has been asked to look into the fate of 60 million dollars that has apparently vanished after being transferred by the central government to the SPLM following the signing of the accord.
(AFP)