Naivasha mediator welcomes Moi’s appointment as Kenya’s peace envoy to Sudan

By John Agou Wuoi

August 3, 2007 (NAIROBI) — The Chief Mediator of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, retired Kenyan General Lazarus Sumbeiywo hailed the appointment of former Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi as Kenya’s Peace Envoy to sudan will “boost” implementation of the CPA.

Addressing a Sudanese Advocacy Group last Sunday at a Nairobi hotel, General Sumbeiywo said Moi can help push for full implementation of the CPA because Moi was instrumental in steering the peace talks and pressuring the then-Government of Sudan to sign the agreement.

General Sumbeiywo said Moi’s is also very knowledgeable about Africa in general and regional conflicts in particular.

However, the retired general says the implementation of the agreement faces challenges from some elements in the National Congress Party — who he says — are opposed to the CPA.

Moi was appointed as Peace Envoy last week by Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, following a discussion between Kibaki and Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir.

Moi has welcomed the appointment saying his new role will give him an opportunity to get actively involved in the implementation of the CPA.

The appointment of Moi comes at a time when the CPA is under constant threats from the National Congress Party (NCP), a partner with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) in the government of National Unity.

In a report, A Strategy for Comprehensive Peace in Sudan released in Brussels last week the International Crisis Group warned “the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended Africa’s longest-running civil war in 2005, is being extensively undermined, primarily by the ruling National Congress Party (NCP)”.

“The CPA holds the seeds for transforming the oppressive governmental system that is at the root of all Sudan’s conflicts into a more open, transparent, inclusive and democratic one”, says David Mozersky, Crisis Group’s Horn of Africa Project Director. “If the CPA fails – which is increasingly likely – Sudan can be expected to return to full-scale war, with devastating consequences for the entire region”.

The NCP and SPLM are also trading accusations over the implementation of the CPA. The SPLM Secretary General Pagan Amum told Reuters News Agency that the NCP has failed to implement the Abyei Boundary Commission report, North-South border demarcation and protocol on Security Arrangements as stated in the CPA.

“Definitely the entire peace process is in danger by Abyei not being implemented, by SAF(Sudanese Armed Forces) maintaining forces which is an act of war in the south, claiming that they want to protect the oil,” Amum said.

“If they maintain militia groups against the south when we have signed peace, then we are in for war,” said Amum.

The NCP has gone on offensive accusing of the SPLM of what it calls “rebellion mentality”.

”Amum still lives with rebellion mentality and is behind on understanding the changes in the political arena that requires everyone to rise to the occasion”, said the Qutbi Al Mahdi an NCP Executive.

As it becomes increasely likely that the CPA is under threat, Moi’s roles in steering the implementation of the CPA — just as he was instrumental during the peace talks and in pressuring the then-Government of Sudan to sign the CPA — is very crucial.

General (Rtd) Sumbeiywo said the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) member countries as the body that brokered the peace talks under the leadership of former President Moi is no longer active in working with the parties to the CPA and follow up on the implementation of the peace agreement.

He said the IGAD has disintegrated with Eritrea withdrawing temporarily from the Horn of Africa’s regional body.

“Ethiopia gets oil from Sudan. Kenya is only interested in promoting a conducive environment for its investors in Southern Sudan. Uganda is currently busy at reaching a comprehensive peace agreement in Northern Uganda with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) while Somalia is at war with itself”, said General Sumbeiywo.

“This leaves Southern Sudan at the mercy of the NCP’s elites in Khartoum”, he added.

But Moi appointment may or may not give the much-needed boost in the implementation of the CPA.

(ST)