UN Security Council to discuss Sudan peace agreement

September 5, 2007 (NEW YORK) — UN Security Council is expected to discuss a report on implementation of Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) by the end of this week. The Secretary-General’s quarterly report on Sudan’s “north-south” situation is before the Council for consideration.

The Security Council would hold consultations on Friday, 7 September on the recent delays in the implementation of the CPA. Formal Council action in response to the situation may depend on reactions by Council members to the Secretary-General’s visit to the region this week.

According to the Security Council Report, three options may be envisaged by the UN body:

First, the Security Council is to leave formal action on south Sudan for October, when UNMIS is renewed. Or to adopt a presidential statement in September indicating concern with the recent CPA problems, and calling on the parties to abide by their commitments.

The third option may be to signal the possibility of reviewing the Council’s overall approach to the whole of Sudan, including a wider strategy with demands for progress in key areas in both Darfur and south Sudan.

The 20 August Secretary-General’s report painted a picture of possible unraveling of the CPA. The 9 July deadline for redeployment of all northern forces away from southern Sudan was missed, “despite some hard work by all concerned and frequent assurances by the Government of its commitment”.

During a visit to Juba on Monday 4 September, the UN Secretary-General underlined that “it is crucially important that we implement this Comprehensive Peace Agreement. For that to be possible it is again important that leaders of both north and south Sudan, President Bashir and President Kiir, are fully committed and closely coordinate for [its] successful implementation.”

Ban Ki-Moon also announced that Ashraf Qazi of Pakistan would serve as the new Special Representative and Head of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), a post had been vacant since October 2006 after the expulsion of Jan Pronk.

DARFUR CRISIS IMPACT

Since more than a year, the key issue for the Security Council concerning Sudan has been how best to make progress with the peacekeeping and political tracks in Darfur, while managing separately the CPA issues in the south.

However, the surfacing of numerous problems with the CPA’s implementation has once again brought up the issue of how best to manage parallel—and sometimes competing—demands in adjacent regions of the same country.

Members are aware of the possibility that many of the problems with the CPA are linked to Khartoum’s hesitant implementation of its commitments. The agreement, it seems, could lead to decisive changes to Sudan’s power structures, distributions of oil-revenue and outcomes of the 2009 elections.

Managing Khartoum’s commitments in Darfur simultaneously, with many of the same issues likely to arise, will be an underlying issue in the minds of many Council members.

This sense has been compounded by the proximity of Darfur peace talks, which that will certainly require increased Council attention to the south. At the very least, a new Darfur peace agreement will likely mean power-sharing structures that will have a bearing on the CPA’s provisions.

There is awareness within the Council of the dangers surrounding the CPA’s implementation and the linkages with the peace talks in Darfur. It is nonetheless unclear whether the Council will be inclined to adopt a proactive stance on the south (and a more comprehensive approach to Sudan’s problems) or, at this stage, wait and watch developments.

(ST)