Arab League holds investment forum on southern Sudan to promote unity
CAIRO, Feb 20, 2004 (AFP) — The Arab League held its first investment conference on southern Sudan, part of its efforts to make unity more attractive to southern rebels while peace talks are under way.
Earlier, an Arab League official, Samir Hosni, speaking on the sidelines of the conference, said a peace accord being negotiated by the Khartoum government and southern rebels was expected to be signed before March 11.
About 200 Arab businessmen participated in the investment and development conference, aimed at luring investment into the region and preventing the partition of Africa’s largest country.
A Sudanese government delegation attended the meeting, but there was no representation by the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army.
The Arab League “wanted to invite the SPLA to this conference but the Sudanese government vigorously opposed it and stressed it was the legal representative of Sudan at the league,” Hosni, the league’s point man on Sudan, told AFP.
Hosni added that despite the SPLA absence, the Arab League hoped the conference would result in development projects for the marginalized region, “which will render the southerners more enthusiastic about the idea of a unified Sudan”.
“We want unity to be an attractive option, but even if … the southern rebels opt for separation, the Arabs will pursue their interests in the south of Sudan,” he said.
In a keynote speech, Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa recalled the league had already organized three coordinating meetings between Arab investment funds to help the Sudan peace process.
The Arab investment funds “have pledged 1.8 billion dollars for infrastructure projects in the north and the south of Sudan, of which 180 million have already been awarded to the Sudanese government to launch road construction and purification projects,” he said.
The government and the SPLA resumed peace talks in Kenya on Tuesday in a bid to end 21 years of civil war.
In 2002, the two sides struck a breakthrough accord granting the south the right to self-determination after a six-year transition period.