Sudan partners fail to address Abyei and disputed oil field issues
May 14, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — The Two main partners of the national unity government agreed yesterday on most of the pending issues in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. However, they failed to resolve two major issues, Abyei and the contract of the White Nile oil firm with South Sudan government.
The joint executive committee between the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) failed in a two-day meeting to find a solution on the implementation of Abyei Protocol and the contract of SPLM with the British oil firm, the White Nile, on a concession allocated to the French Total company.
The meeting decided to refer the two issues to a joint meeting to be held within two weeks headed by President Omar al-Bashir and First Vice President Salva Kiir.
In a press statement at the end of the meeting Luka Biong and Dirdiry Mohamed Ahmed told the press that the meeting referred the question of Abyei and it should be discussed on May 27 in presence of the President and the First Vice President. Also, different reports on Abyei will be presented in this meeting. The two CPA signatories said they are resolved to reach a deal at the next meeting.
In an interview with the Sudan Tribune last month, the SPLM Secretary General Pagan Amum that the SPLM is seeking American mediation to circumvent this thorn-bush problem in the CPA implementation.
In the same trend, the NCP-SPLM joint meeting headed by Vice President Ali Osman Taha and Vice President of Southern Sudan government, Riek Machar, dwelt without success on the White Nile contract but no solution with on the horizon. It is decided also to discuss it in the next meeting.
Nonetheless the meeting reached an agreement on other difficult dossiers.
The two partners agreed that Sudan must work with one international gateway and communication code. They said that the six telecommunication companies are authorized to work but only four can cover the whole country while the activities of two others companies — authorized by the Southern Sudan government — will be restricted only on the southern part of the country. The rule remains that only federal authorities have exclusive competence in this field. The authorization of the southern Sudan communication firms is the exception.
On the civil aviation, it was agreed to register the airline companies working in southern Sudan by the federal authorities. The management of the airports will be organized by the federal civil aviation corps in coordination with GoSS.
The meeting reaffirmed that the passports, immigration and the National Identity are administrated by the federal government. The foreign and the interior ministries should open sections in Juba in this regard.
The cooperation deals signed y the southern Sudan government in the fields of sports, culture, trade and investment should be notified to the foreign ministry. Thus, the meeting ratified cooperation agreements signed with Uganda and Kenya. It was also agreed that the foreign ministry should be consulted before their renewal because only this federal ministry has competence to sign international and regional deals.
The meeting asserted the need to accelerate the rotation of the presidency of the Bleu Nile State and South Kordofan. The meeting also discussed the situation of northern merchants working in the south; and it was agreed to restitute their properties and to invite them to re-open their business in southern Sudan.
(ST)