Sudan’s former foes must work to keep 2005 peace

July 9, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan’s former north-south foes must maintain a sense of urgency to keep the peace deal that ended Africa’s longest civil war on track, an international monitoring body said on Wednesday.

July 9 marks the mid point of the six-year interim period during which all parts of the deal and democratic transformation should be implemented, including elections, power and wealth sharing and culminating in a southern referendum on secession in 2011.

“Rapid progress on outstanding issues — first and foremost on the Abyei road map and on the border — is now vital to sustaining momentum in the CPA,” the Assessment and Evaluation Commission (AEC) said in its mid-term report.

“The new tasks ahead are formidable,” the international body charged with monitoring the deal added.

The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) has been largely neglected by the international community which has focused on a separate conflict in Sudan’s western Darfur region. But north-south clashes have brought focus back onto the deal, which ended a civil war that claimed 2 million lives.

The head of the AEC, Derek Plumley, said the Abyei crisis where clashes in May destroyed the capital of the oil-rich state claimed by both of the former foes, was the greatest challenge to the peace deal and urged both sides to push ahead with resolving the dispute.

“If you’re looking for top priorities the most immediate thing is to implement the Abyei protocol,” he told reporters. “That is a key area of tensions that could explode.”

He added demarcating the north-south border where much of Sudan’s oil lies and preparations for free elections on time in 2009 were also crucial.

The report said new legislation had to be passed ahead of elections for the first democratic vote in 23 years in Sudan.

“To ensure a free and fair environment, the security and broader reform legislation envisaged in the CPA will need to be in place in advance of the election campaign,” the report said.

Plumley said the former north-south foes must show more willingness to speedily implement the deal to make unity attractive ahead of the 2011 referendum.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband visiting Khartoum on Wednesday said the CPA was top of the agenda of his talks with officials including President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

“The next three years are absolutely critical in following through on the CPA,” he told reporters after meeting Bashir. “We want to see all elements of the AEC report followed through.”

Calling the situation in Sudan fragile, he said world attention would remain focused on Africa’s largest country.

(Reuters)