US senator calls on Bush to save North-South peace agreement in Sudan
October 12, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — The aspiring Democratic presidential nomination in the US Senator Barack Obama called on the White House to intervene and prevent the collapse of the peace agreement in Sudan.
“The Bush Administration needs to rededicate itself to saving this treaty. A focused and revitalized diplomatic effort that includes all parties that helped negotiate the CPA is the only way in which this process can be salvaged” Obama said in a statement.
Last Thursday the SPLM decided to suspend their participation in the national unity government because of what they describe as the NCP’s failure to fully implement crucial elements of the CPA.
The latest move by the SPLM raised concern that the Comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) that ended two decades of civil war between the Arab and Muslim-dominated north and the mainly Christian and animist black southerners may unravel.
The US called on the SPLM and the NCP to exercise restraint and to implement all terms of the CPA.
The US senator said that a “focused and revitalized diplomatic effort that includes all parties that helped negotiate the CPA is the only way in which this process can be salvaged”.
The son of a Kenyan man and a white woman from Kansas Obama is being tipped as a formidable candidate to replace George W Bush as president, although he will have spent only four years in Washington by Election Day 2008.
Obama has been spearheading efforts in the US congress to boost funds for peacekeeping and humanitarian aid to Darfur.
Obama accused the Sudanese government of constantly reneging on the agreements it signs and called on the international community to “insist that diplomatic breakthroughs and paper agreements are followed up with real action, and hold the regime in Khartoum accountable for its actions.”
The presidential candidate said that the failure of the CPA would “have devastating consequences for all efforts to achieve peace in Darfur”.
Observers raised concern that the current situation between the ruling parties in Sudan may negatively impact efforts to resolve a separate crisis in the war torn region of Darfur. Peace talks between Khartoum and Darfur rebel groups are overshadowed by escalation of violence and boycotting by some factions.
On Thursday, the only Darfur rebel faction to sign the 2006 peace agreement led by Minni Arcua Minnawi the head of the SLA who became presidential adviser in Khartoum, called for an international investigation into an attack on their forces in Muhajiriya, where at least 45 were killed and dozens injured.
Conflict and famine in Darfur have left at least 200,000 people dead and two million displaced since Khartoum enlisted the Janjaweed militia to put down an ethnic minority revolt in 2003.
Khartoum says only 9,000 people have died in the conflict.
(ST)