Southern lawmakers call upon Egypt to save Sudan’s unity

June 25, 2009 (CAIRO) – A delegation from the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly called on the Egyptian government to use its influence to save the unity of the country from collapse.

A delegation from the SSLA led by Martin Tako Moyi, deputy chairman of Gender, Social Welfare, Youth and Sports committee met on Wednesday June 24 with delegation from the Egyptian People’s Assembly led by Saad Al-Jamal, chairman of Arab affairs committee and Mustafa Al-Fighi, chairman of foreign affairs committee.

Martin reiterated the adherence of southern Sudanese to the choice of unity, said a press statement released by GOSS office in Cairo. He however blamed the successive national governments of ignoring the development of marginalized areas in southern Sudan, Darfur, Kordofan and Blue Nile and eastern Sudan.

The head of the delegation called on Egypt to intervene and use its influence with the North and the South to save the unity of the Sudan.

“We call on our brothers in Egypt to provide advice to the brothers in the north to work on making unity attractive,” he said; pointing out that maintaining Sudan united is in the interest of the Nile Basin countries.

The legislator accused Khartoum of trying to destabilize the south, saying: “I have seen with my own eyes Antonov aircrafts dropping arms and ammunition to the LRA, as well as helicopters dropping weapons to some tribes in the south.”

He added that the ruling Islamic movement in the north wants to compel southern Sudan to choose separation. He mentioned the campaign against the South and its leaders led by the Intibaha newspaper owned by the uncle of President Omer Al-Bashir.

The Sudanese government and the former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement signed a peace deal in January 2005 that gave the southerners religious and political autonomy but also give them the right to establish their own state if they vote for in a referendum to be held in 2011.

However the two peace partners accuse each other of hindering the implementation of the peace agreement and their commitment to the unity of the country.

The Sudanese rivals from the north and south met in Washington this week to tackle on the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). They agreed on Wednesday to implement the fragile 2005 peace deal and avoid reigniting Africa’s longest civil war.

(ST)