Sudan’s CPA must work out
By Peter Kuot Ngong
May 31, 2008 – The comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) as ratified in 2005 between the Khartoum government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) has become the first ever permanent peace agreement of Sudan rather than being a foxy logic to humour the marginalized Sudanese to stop their irritating uprising. In fact the CPA architectures from Khartoum should be regretting this! My country men relax, CPA must work despite recent challenges as in Abyei and concealed oil revenue.
According to the Egyptian writer El Ashaal in his article titled “CPA a failure by the Sudan government” discloses other Arab’s countries’ regret. The fact that “when the elephants fight it is the grass that suffers” remains observed. Therefore, should Khartoum embark on war as the sole solution, then the sons and daughters of ‘Mahdi’s royal family’ will taste it. The next war will not be far from Khartoum.
The second Sudanese civil war that sparked-off in 1983 between the Sudan People Libration Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and the government of the Republic of the Sudan (GoS) became the last civil war in our country given the CPA; believe me or not?
In a brief look through the history, the civil war under the command of the fallen hero Dr John Garang de Mabior commenced in Bor town (Jonglei State’s Capital) on 16th.May, 1983 following President Gaafar Nimeiri’s decision to circumvent the Addis Ababa Agreement (AAA) signed in 1972 to end the Sudan’s first civil war which lasted from 1955 to 1972. President Gaafar Nimeiri’s attempt to create a federated Sudan including Southern states which violated Addis Ababa Agreement that has granted the South considerable autonomy. President Gaafar Nimeiri abrogated the Addis Ababa peace Agreement but CPA is exceptional. To add insult to injury, the situation was exacerbated after President Nimeiri went ahead to implement the Islamic Sharia Law in Sept 1983 and CPA caters for such Arabinized decisions. This is why CPA is a must to complete liberation of marginalized people of the Sudan. All these grievances happened alongside the callous Khartoum government’s natural characteristics of racial discrimination, economic marginalization, religion diversity and monopoly of power.
The two parties (SPLM/A under the leadership of Dr. John Garang de Mabior and GoS under the leadership of the Vice President Ali Osman Mohammad Taha) reached a consensus of finding a resolution to a nagging warfare using peaceful strategies. The two parties unanimously agreed for a peace deal in order to end the conflict and secure a peaceful and prosperous future for all the people of the Sudan and to collaborate in the task of governing the country.
The popular Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was ratified by the utilitarian SPLM/A and the Khartoum propaganda government in 2005. The negotiation that lasted for over three years due to procrastination by the Khartoum government now stands to determine the future of the country depending on its implementation. The Negotiations which began at Machakos Kenya yielded the Machakos Protocol which was the first agreement signed during the negotiations. The negotiations which were however interrupted by SPLA’s military offensive on the garrison town of Torit had to resume later after the Khartoum government repossessed the town and with the help of international pressure from the United Nations and some countries in particular like the United States, Norway, Italy whose efforts helped a lot during the negotiations remains a prime hope for all.
According to chapter II, part 1, section 1.4.5 of the CPA “pursuit of good governance accountability, transparency, democracy and the rule of law at all levels of government to achieve lasting peace” have to be respected. To dishonor this, the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) has been denied familiarity with the country’s oil revenue accountancy. This is an article of the CPA – which if honored and implemented perfectly can promote good relationship and collaboration between the two antagonistic governments. The GoSS’s ‘Pull out’ from the Government of National Unity (GoNU) in 2007 demanding for implementation of border demarcation, resolution on Abyei conflict, redeployment of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) to the 1956 border and be allowed to reshuffle some of her ministers in the GoNU was a move well answered to normalize the precarious situation. This gave the volatile peace agreement a chance to survive for the next four years and be assured that it will continue to endure until 2011 to begin a new phase.
The ongoing Khartoum government merciless offensive on Abyei civilians is not meant to provoke the SPLA to plunge in to a full scale war but just a foxy strategy to sabotage and delay the CPA chapter on Abiey resolution. This is a deal which was first run by the Khartoum backed nomadic Misereeya. The Misereeya later gave up the deal after facing intolerable military offensive from the SPLA – a business to irritating organized national liberation army.
Concerning this spectre in the CPA, what will be the GoSS’s next move? After been lifted by the CPA to the sovereignty of Southern Sudan, the SPLM/A has a profound advantage. However much CPA is not implemented as expected, any disagreement that may lead to military confrontation, the SPLA with well accumulated arsenal and heavy military force developed in just two years will be in control and having known this, Khartoum won’t just swing to military without weighting the effect properly. Moving SPLA back from the sovereignty of Southern Sudan is a task huge and tougher than forcing a camel through a needle eye. Therefore CPA is a permanent peace agreement for Sudan – a must to work.
The writer is a student of Dr. John Garang de Mabior Institute of Science and Technology – Bor, Jonglei. He can be reached at [email protected]