Sudanese advocacy group hails SPLM decision to rejoin unity Govt

WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 19, 2007) – Southern Sudanese Voice for Freedom (SSVF), a Washington, D.C.-based Diaspora advocacy group for peace in Sudan, hails the news that Southern Sudan’s main political party – the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) – is scheduled to rejoin the national unity government (GNU) on December 27, and that the U.S. Congress has voted in favor of Sudanese divestiture.

The SPLM, one of the main rebel groups fighting Khartoum’s Islamic control over the predominantly Christian south in the 21-year north-south civil war, had withdrawn from the GNU in October amid accusations that the central government was not abiding by the terms of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The two sides have now agreed to peacefully resolve a number of the SPLM’s grievances, including the issue of revenues from the South’s oil, and funding for a national census required before the 2009 national elections and a referendum on southern secession in 2011.

“Resolving this dispute nonviolently is the only way to proceed,” said SSVF president Jimmy Mulla, “because the only other option is war, and Sudan has already had too much of that.” Equally as important, Mulla noted, is the impact of this positive step on the future of Sudan’s western province of Darfur.

“There simply cannot be any negotiated peace in Darfur unless the CPA between the north and the south is successful,” Mulla points out, admitting his frustration with Darfur observers and activists who fail to make the connection. “There is no incentive on the part of Darfurian rebels to negotiate with a government they see as not keeping their word on an already negotiated pact – the CPA – and without southern representation in the GNU, there is no support for Darfurian representation in the Sudanese government.”

Speaking for his organization, Mulla also welcomes the U.S. Congress’ passage of legislation that would allow states to punish U.S. or foreign entities for investing in Sudan while the Sudanese central government continues to wage terror against its Darfurian citizens. The Bush administration had been opposed to the measure, maintaining states should not be allowed to pursue international policy that may be counter to or jeopardize national foreign policy. President Bush signed the Sudan Peace Act in 2002, which authorizes the State Department and the President to report every six months to Congress on the Sudan north-south peace process.

“Sudan is now at a crossroads,” Mulla observes, “and the option to cut investment has the power to further pressure Khartoum to come implement the CPA and end the crisis in Darfur – which in turn could position Sudan as a model for modern African governance and give it to the opportunity to help bring about peace and prosperity throughout the region.”