Bashir says Sudan’s unity will boost economic growth

By Ngor Arol Garang

March 1, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir, has called told Southern Sudanese today that they will reap more benefits from unity of the country than secession saying it will boost economic growth.

The president who was addressing a public rally at the stadium in its capital Juba, said Sudan is expected to record a larger than projected economic growth in the forthcoming years but cautioned that political forces must encourage political stability and take measures aimed at eradicating things that divide the country.

Bashir told the crowd that the Sudan’s economy could expand by a higher percent in the future if all efforts are exerted to end political tensions “that have encouraged nothing than regional wars and displacement of inhabitants”.

“To experience real growth and success in the war against poverty, we must get our act together on two fronts,” Bashir said adding that “our politics must promote political stability and public confidence in the future of our country”.

“We must take policy initiatives that will reduce and maintain low interest rates” he said stressing Sudan’s economic growth has sharply been slowed down by the civil wars and strife that have tarnished its political image in the world.

He further said that natural disasters such as drought and the famines compounded the negative effects of war.

The leader of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) is on a tour of the South that took him to Juba and Torit as part of elections campaign as he is running against eleven other candidates including Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) deputy Secretary General Yasir Arman.

He is accompanied by former president Abdel-Rahman Siwar Al-Dahab and former Vice President Joseph Lagu. Both men share the chairmanship of the national commission for electing Bashir.

Lagu urged the people of East Equatoria to vote for Bashir as a symbol of unity and peace saying that him along with First Vice President Salva Kiir are the guarantees for implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

Bashir told the people of Torit that there are no outstanding issues with the SPLM after the census hurdle has been overcome by allocating forty more seats to the SPLM in the national assembly. He said work is progressing satisfactorily in demarcating the North-South borders.

He accused parties he didn’t name of seeking to sabotage the CPA similar to the 1972 Addis Ababa agreement saying he will prevent them from doing so. Bashir’s adviser Bona Mulwal implored on the people of Equatoria to pick Bashir as their next president.

However, Bashir’s vow to implement every clause of the CPA was met with skepticism within Southerners.

“Any vote in favor of Bashir would mean return of war with ruthless killing of innocent women and children as still the case in Darfur now,” said Albino Akot who attended Bashir rally in Juba this afternoon after returning from Torit.

“Who in the south wants his/vote go to Bashir, who, in 1992, carried out one of the most dreadful killing in the modern history, when his forces killed thousands of South Sudanese residents of Juba,” posed Athian Kuol from Juba who also attended his rally.

Tombe Wani, a native of Juba whose brother was killed in 1992, said he never attended any rally hosting Bashir “because he is the same Bashir who forcefully recruited my brother from Juba University and allowed his forces to kill him on the ground because we were related to James Wani Igga who was with the SPLA”.

“My brother was killed with several people and majority of them were students including police, wild life and army personnel accused to have established links with the SPLA,” he said.

The civil war memories are more than a distant memory for many residents of Juba who lost their loved ones and relatives who have gone missing in ghost houses controlled by military intelligence.

Bashir who is currently in Juba is expected to fly further west of Juba, to the western state capital of Yambio and Yei tomorrow before ending his two days official electoral campaign in the south.

Officials and eyewitnesses have said that his reception at both Juba international airports and Torit were poorly attended.

Bashir will need a substantial percentage of Southern votes if he is to gain the 51% majority in the first round. The NCP has sough Arman’s withdrawal from the race to prevent having to resort to a second round which prove more difficult for the Bashir.

(ST)