British PM calls on Sudanese to turn CPA into lasting peace

January 9, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — The British Prime Minister today called upon Sudanese parties to turn the CPA into a lasting peace saying it will contribute more than £200 million for ongoing efforts to secure peaceful future in Sudan.

In remarks made at the fifth anniversary of the Comprehensive peace Agreement signed in 2005, Gordon Brown said Sudanese leaders should rise to the remaining challenges and to “turn an interim agreement into lasting peace.”

Also regarding the restive Darfur region, he called for greater security economic development, and the release of kidnapped humanitarian workers.

Gordon pledged that his government would allocate more than £200 million for peacekeeping, peacebuilding, emergency relief and the delivery of basic services such as health and education. Also he announced that UL granted this week £54 million to humanitarian assistance across Sudan, peacebuilding in southern Sudan and election preparations.

The United Kingdom is one of the guarantor countries of the CPA when it was signed on January 9, 2005 between the Sudanese government and the former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Nairobi ending more than two decades of civil war in the country.

UK Minister of State for Africa Baroness Glenys Kinnock will start tomorrow a three day visit to Sudan where she will hold talks with the Sudanese officials in Khartoum and Juba over CPA implementation.

” (..) A deal is still left to be done for credible elections, border demarcation and to ensure a workable relationship between North and South, regardless of the referendum outcome,” said the British minister before to depart for Sudan today.

She further said that London would work with the CPA parties to ensure that the next year delivers the long-term peace and security.

“Contentious issues need to be resolved through political dialogue, and without violence. The rights to peaceful protest, freedom of assembly and freedom of speech must be respected,” she said.

(ST)