South Kordofan conflict “intricate”, says governor
September 10, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The governor of Sudan’s South Kordofan state, Adam Al-Faki, has described the ongoing war in his state as “intricate” because it involves family members on both sides and acknowledged that it would not stop without the spread of education.
Al-Faki, who was speaking at a consultative forum with the leaders of the local administration in South Kordofan in Khartoum on Tuesday, urged them to put pressure on the citizens of the state who joined the SPLM/N and press them to join the peace process, stressing that the road to peace is long and thorny.
The newly appointed governor stressed that war must be stopped “today and not tomorrow”. He noted the impact of war on the people of South Kordofan saying that the entire state has two specialist doctors.
Al-Faki pledged to reinstate rebels who lay down arms and join the peace process in their posts they held as civil servants.
The deputy speaker of the Sudan parliament, Hago Gasm Al-Seed, accused rebel leaders of adopting foreign agenda and echoed the demand by al-Faki that the local administration leaders meet with those who joined the rebellion and convince them to abandon the SPLA-N.
Last April, the African Union mediation team managed to organize a first meeting between the Sudanese government and the SPLM/N since 2011 in order to negotiate a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan state.
However the talks wrapped up without any progress as the two parties disagree even on the agenda of the talks. The AU Peace and Security Council and the UN Security Council say the talks should take place in line with a framework agreement reached in June 2011. But the government denounced it in July of the same year.
(ST)