Beja Congress slams Eritrean negligence of East Sudan peace implementation
April 26, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — A former rebel group in eastern Sudan which signed a peace agreement with Khartoum last year said disappoint by the attitude of the Eritrean government towards the non-implementation of the signed deal.
On October 14, 2006, Sudanese government and East Front rebels, composed of the Beja Congress and Free Lions, signed a peace accord that was negotiated with Eritrean help and is aimed at ending a 12-year armed conflict.
The spokesperson of the Beja Congress, Abdallah Musa, expressed the disappointment of his party in the broker of the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement, the Eritrean government, saying that Asmara has no means to pressurize Khartoum to implement the deal.
Musa further said Eritrea itself is in need for the Sudanese government help assistance, Al-Ahdath daily reported on Saturday.
Musa criticised what he called the hegemony of the National Congress Party and its attempts to control the projects of Eastern Sudan Development and Reconstruction Fund.
He pointing out that the transitional period on the verge of completion without the implementation of important aspects to the ESPA, on the top of these aspects he mentioned the formation of the Public Service Commission in addition to integrate 500 member of the former rebel group among thousands of soldiers who are jobless and full of anger, he added.
Eastern rebels, whose low-intensity revolt has been in progress for about a decade, share the complaints of their counterparts in Darfur in the west and in southern Sudan that Khartoum fails to develop the regions while exploiting their natural resources.
The drought-stricken east has some of the highest malnutrition rates in the country, yet is home to Sudan’s largest gold mine, its main port and a major oil pipeline.
The Eastern Sudan Democratic Tribune (ESDT) demanded in press statement today the federal government to hold a donor conference aims to support the fund for eastern Sudan reconstruction and to work for the establishment of strategic development projects in eastern Sudan.
Salah Eddin Hassan, the political Secretary of the ESDT, called upon the government to put forward an initiative to speed up the convening of the donor conference to support the reconstruction fund.
(ST)