Blue Nile governor warns resumption of war in Sudan

By Ngor Arol Garang

July 11, 2011 (JUBA) – The governor of Blue Nile State warned Sunday of a resumption of war in Sudan if Khartoum attempts to forcibly disarm former members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in his state.

Malik Agar head of the Northern branch of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – the ruling party of South Sudan – also warned North Sudan’s ruling party against reneging on the agreement recently signed in Ethiopia.

Since June 6 the SPLM’s Northern Sector (SPLMN) have been fighting the Sudanese army after they attempted to disarm them, the opposition group say. Khartoum claims the fighting started after SPLMN forces attacked and occupied a local police station.

After the outbreak of fighting in South Kordofan there has been increased focus on Blue Nile state to see if conflict would start there as well. Both states joined South Sudan’s SPLM fighting Khartoum in Sudan’s second North-South civil war (1983-2005) and despite being in the North were granted special status under the peace deal that ended the conflict.

In the week before South Sudan officially became independent from North Sudan on July 9 the SPLM signed an accord with Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in Addis Ababa setting the groundwork for ceasefire and political arrangements in South Kordofan and Blue Nile. However, the deal collapsed after strong opposition by hard-line circles within the NCP.

Agar told the press in South Sudan’s new capital Juba on Sunday that the situation in the two areas could result in a return to war if the parties fail to address their differences amicably.

Blue Nile’s governor said that the remaining aspects of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) had to be implemented. Under the deal that granted the South the right to secede, popular consultations were due to be held in both areas to determine their future relationship with Khartoum and whether the CPA addressed their grievances.

Due to delayed elections, which the NCP won, in South Kordofan the consultation process has not begun – in Blue Nile they are only half complete.

Both sides said they would only accept the result if they won. The SPLM complained that the vote was rigged although the election was endorsed by all local and international observers.

Agar said that the consultations were also supposed to resolve future of Northern SPLA soldiers, which the Khartoum says are now part of a foreign army now the South has seceded.

“The other issue within the popular consultation was that the government was supposed to address the issue of the two forces. We have over 55,000 forces which were part and parcel of the SPLA and they are sons and daughters of the two areas plus may be 9,000 not necessarily from the two other areas.”

He repeated the SPLA’s claim that it was the attempt of the Sudan Armed Forces to disarm the SPLA that led to the conflict in South Kordofan that has displaced 75,000 people according to UN figures.

“The government of Sudan, especially the president issued an order through chief of staff to disarm these forces and when the general in Kadugli wanted to implement this order, the whole thing went into force military confrontation in South Kordofan”.

Blue Nile’s governor said that violence could “spillover” into his state if the Northern military attempt to disarm his forces.

“There will be resistance [to disarmament] and then there is going to be war in the two areas and possibly in the whole of Sudan. So the whole thing is a political aspiration of the people. Because these combatants were product of rebellion that had a cause, so the use of military is not the solution. It is an alarm to achieve political issues.”

The governor said that Khartoum should implement the Addis Ababa framework agreement if they want peace and stability in Sudan. He has previously warned that failure to do so would mean opening up a hostile front from the border with Ethiopia all the way to Darfur, where various rebel groups continue to fight the government.

The talks, which involved the African Union, United Nations and Ethiopian government covered wealth and power sharing as well as constitutional arrangements, rights and diversity and governance, according to Agar.

Shortly before South Sudan’s independence the AU panel focusing on Sudan informed Agar and the SPLM the Sudan’s president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir had “reservations” with the deal.

Agar again repeated that if the agreement was not implemented there was a risk of return to war in North Sudan.

“Our position remains with the agreement because this is the agreement which we signed with them. The other option is war if he does not need peace”, said senior member of the former rebel movement.

(ST)