Sudan’s CPA should have included options other than unity or separation: Arab League chief

November 25, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The negotiators of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in Sudan made a mistake by limiting choices for Southerners into picking between unity and independence in the January 9, 2011 referendum, the Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said.

Moussa speaking in an interview with the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper published today, said that the Arab world for the first time faces the prospect of a breakup in one of its member states describing it as an event “that would have major repercussions”.

The Muslim north and mostly Christian and animist south agreed in 2005 to hold the referendum as part of the peace accord that ended a 22-year civil war in Sudan, Africa’s largest country. The people of south Sudan must choose between secession or staying united with the north.

The Arab League chief said that the North and South should have sought to offer more options than what was included in the CPA.

“The negotiators should have put a number of possibilities in the referendum and not limit it to secession or unity, as there was the option of federalism, and what has happened is a structural mistake,” Moussa said.

“Now there should be a commitment to the outcome of the referendum on the condition that it is convincing and transparent to all and reflecting the will of the majority,” he added.

Moussa also expressed his conviction that the chances for unity “are not all gone”.

The Arab League has dispatched observers to Sudan to monitor the referendum process which started with the registration of voters last week. The Pan-Arab body pledged to respect the choices made by Southerners even if it led to breaking up Sudan.

(ST)