Washington accuses Sudan’s NCP of reneging on CPA accord
December 24, 2009 (WASHINGTON) – The United States is “deeply concerned” about modifications made to the South Sudan referendum bill ahead of its passage Tuesday in the national assembly and accused the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) of breaching the terms of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
At stake are the detailed provisions for how to carry out the 2011 referendum for independence of South Sudan, a voting process that was guaranteed under the 2005 peace deal with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A)
On Tuesday the NCP legislators modified the bill after it was agreed on in the Council of Ministers and also in the Presidency. The approved bill cancelled an article stipulating that southerners who reside outside the region will have to register and vote only in South Sudan.
The chairman of referendum sub-committee Badriya Suleiman said this article violates the interim constitution particularly the article related to freedom of movement.
The US State Department said in an official statement today that they are concerned by “language added by the NCP that is different than that agreed to by NCP and SPLM leadership”.
“Reneging on the agreement negotiated on December 13th by the two parties undermines the peace process, jeopardizes CPA implementation, and risks sparking renewed political hostilities between the parties”.
“We call on the parties to pass the remaining bills, including the Abyei referendum bill, using the text as agreed, and to restore the Southern Sudan referendum bill to the agreed-upon language before it is signed into law”.
The US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice told reporters in New York today that the events surrounding the referendum bill “erodes confidence in the NCP’s readiness to implement the elements of the CPA. It is destabilizing and it’s most unfortunate”.
“We look to the government of Sudan not to enact that law finally without revising it so that it reflects the agreement reached with the SPLM and to ensure that all the remaining agreements, such as that related to Abyei, put before the National Assembly are unaltered as this one was unilaterally, resulting in the exclusion of the SPLM from this process” Rice said.
The bill’s passage yesterday was a successive blow to the already tense relationship between SPLM and NCP. The day before, parliament passed the National Security Act which prompted a ‘No’ vote by SPLM bloc.
“The United States is also deeply concerned about the passage of a revised National Security Act on Monday that contains no new measures of accountability for the security services. For elections to be credible, it is incumbent on the regime to demonstrate in word and in deed that this law will not be used to arrest and detain political opponents”
“The Government of Sudan must also make immediate and significant improvements to the electoral environment, including permitting peaceful demonstrations, ending press censorship, and allowing opposition voices to be heard. The high voter registration signals the clear desire of the people of Sudan to participate in the process of democratic transformation as proposed in the spirit and letter of the CPA. The United States calls on all parties to work together to ensure the upcoming elections and referenda are conducted in a credible manner,” said the State Department spokesman’s office.
Salva Kiir, Sudan’s first vice president and the southern government’s leader urge president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir not to sign the Security Act into a law.
“On 20th of December, the National Assembly passed the controversial bill of National Intelligence and Security Service. In particular Sections 25, 50 and 51 of this bill have and continued to be our concern as they clearly contravene the provisions of CPA and our Interim National Constitution. We remain banking on the honest assumption of responsibility by the President of the Republic not to sign this bill into law until these constitutional issues are adequately addressed” Kiir said in a statement today.
This week the SPLM announced that Kiir would not co-sign the security bill once sent to the presidency.
On Thursday the International Crisis Group (ICG) warned that Sudan is heading towards “violent breakup” due to the lack of implementation of peace deals by Khartoum.
“The main mechanisms to end conflicts between the central government and the peripheries — the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (with the south), the Darfur Peace Agreement and the East Sudan Peace Agreement — all suffer from lack of implementation, largely due to intransigence of the National Congress Party,” the report said.
(ST)