Sudanese government rejects new currency for the south

KHARTOUM, June 16, 2004 (Sudan Tribune) — The Sudanese government has announced its total rejection of the steps taken by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) on issuing a special currency for southern Sudan.

It considered it a violation of the wealth protocol. The government said it would not acknowledge the new currency; the Khartoum based daily newspaper Al-Sahafa reported.

A member of the government delegation to the peace talks, Amin Hassan Omar, said that the wealth protocol which had been signed between the government and the SPLM did not include a provision for issuing a currency for southern Sudan.

He added that what had been signed up to was that the federal government would adopt a programme for issuing a new currency named the dinar. Until then the existing dinar would be used.

Omar said that if the new southern currency was issued it would be an offence and would not be recognized by the government or any other country.

The southern rebel SPLM signed a number of protocols with the government last month, paving the way for a final peace accord.

The southern conflict pits the Islamist government in Khartoum against the mainly Christian, animist south, complicated by oil, ethnicity and ideology. It has claimed two million victims.