Sudan’s SPLM boycott of government remains – leader

November 7, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — South Sudan leader Salva Kiir warned Wednesday that his former rebels would stay out of the national government in Khartoum until a 2005 peace deal is fully implemented.

Kiir, who is first vice president of Sudan’s government of national unity, said in Washington that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was staggering “like a drunken person” but remained on the table.

In September, ministers with Kiir’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) quit the Khartoum government in protest at slow progress in implementing the CPA, which ended Africa’s longest-running civil war in 2005.

Complaints have centered on the finalizing of a north-south border, the withdrawal of troops from each side’s area of control, and the fate of the disputed oil-rich region of Abiye.

A southern official said on Saturday that President Omar al-Beshir had reached agreement with Kiir that all CPA provisions would be implemented by the end of the year, allowing the SPLM ministers to rejoin the government.

But Kiir, addressing the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars here, said there was no breakthrough yet.

Southerners were not mere “job seekers” and would stay out of the government “until the demands of the SPLM are met,” he said.

“We will not move from there until we get what we have demanded for.”

Arguing that the ball was in Beshir’s court, Kiir warned that a collapse of the peace pact would ripple regionally and beyond, by fostering instability and extremism.

“The CPA did not only put an end to a protracted civil war in Sudan, but it also provides a blueprint of resolving other national problems and conflicts and offered a model to be emulated by others,” he said.

“Therefore reversion of this peace into conflict in Sudan and inflammation of other wars in neighboring countries shall provide a breeding ground for many terrorist groups.”

The UN Security Council voted unanimously last week to press for full implementation of the faltering CPA deal and to extend the mandate of a UN mission in Sudan.

Kiir said the UN resolution was “very encouraging” but called for greater international pressure on the Beshir regime, which also stands accused by the United States of fomenting “genocide” in the western region of Darfur.

Peace in Darfur appears increasingly elusive after negotiations in Libya kicked off last month but were boycotted by the main rebel groups.

Kiir said that the SPLM was trying to bring Darfur’s 20-plus faction leaders together to forge a common platform for the peace talks.

“We will not be party to any oppressors that would want to oppress any others in our country,” he said in a veiled nod to the Beshir administration.

After 21 years of devastating conflict, the CPA provided for a six-year transition period in which southern Sudan would enjoy regional autonomy and participate in a national unity government in Khartoum.

In 2011, southerners will be asked to vote in a referendum on whether they want to be independent or remain part of Sudan.

Kiir said that Khartoum would have to respect “the will of the people” in the future referendum, “but we will not declare any unilateral independence” beforehand.

(AFP)