Sudan’s Bashir says he will be the first to recognize independent South
January 19, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir declared his intention to be the first to recognize an independent South Sudan state should southerners favor this option in the 2011 referendum.
However, Bashir also told the crowd and dignitaries gathered in the remote southern town that his northern National Congress Party (NCP) still wanted to keep Sudan unified.
The oil-rich semi-autonomous south is set to decide on its fate next year and vote on whether it wants to secede or remain part of united Sudan. The chances for the latter appear to be slim according to most observers.
Last week, Lam Akol who heads the Sudan People Liberation Movement for Democratic Change (SPLM-DC) party warned Southerners against voting for independence saying that the SPLM controlling the South is “weak” and will not be able to control tribal conflicts and hostilities.
Bashir’s remarks will serve to pacify fears that the North will attempt to prevent the South from breaking away, a scenario that have caused fear of return to civil war.
The Sudanese First Vice President and the leader of South Sudan government (GoSS) Salva Kiir on his end thought to downplay resumption of fighting between the two sides.
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir, speaking at the same event, played down fears that the 2011 vote would lead to a confrontation with the north.
“Let me be clear … that even if the south decides to separate from the north in 2011, it is not going to split into the Indian Ocean or the Atlantic Ocean … Let us prepare ourselves to embrace the outcome of the referendum peacefully,” Kiir told the crowd.
“The (River) Nile will continue to flow from south to north … Arab nomads will continue to look for pastures and water in south Sudan and no one would think of denying those rights. Before appropriate oil infrastructure is developed in south Sudan, the oil will continue to flow south to north,” he added.
Most of Sudan’s proven oil reserves that is estimated at 6 billion barrels of oil lie in the south, but the crude is funneled north to the Red Sea, through pipelines and refineries to Port Sudan.
It was reported that South Sudan is mulling using land or railroad to export oil through Kenya but analysts say the option will be costly and inefficient.
The North and South have yet to agree on issues of border demarcation and post-referendum arrangements.
Earlier this month, the Sudanese presidential adviser Ghazi Salah Al-Deen Al-Attabani warned that the referendum law lacks a specific timeframe to agree on issues including demarcation of borders, nationality, the Nile Waters Agreement and other issues.
Al-Attabani called this situation a ‘recipe for war’ unless rectified by the NCP and SPLM.
(ST)