Bashir vows to achieve peace in Sudan this year

March 1, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese president, Omer Hassan al-Bashir, has pledged to achieve peace across the country during the year either by peaceful or military means, holding rebel groups responsible for obstruction of services and development projects.

Bashir, who was speaking Sunday in an electoral meeting in South Kordofan state ahead of the general elections next April, said his government is capable of achieving peace during this year through peaceful talks or war.

He vehemently attacked rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), saying they divided the people and hindered development and services projects in the state.

Bashir pledged to resume development and service projects in the state, saying they will reconstitute the Nuba Mountains Agricultural Production Corporation (NMAPC) to plant genetically modified cotton.

The NMAPC is a subsidiary corporation of the Public Corporation for Agricultural Production (PCAP). Its origins lie in the Nuba Mountains Cotton Corporation (1924), which was solely concerned with the marketing and ginning of cotton and distribution of seed.

The Sudanese president also committed to complete the building of the ring road, pledging to extend electricity line to cover all areas of the Nuba Mountain.

“We want to bring Nuba Mountains back to its old days so that everybody could benefit from the ample resources of South Kordofan,” he added.

Bashir pointed out that he will not stop talks with the rebel groups because achieving peace through negotiation will save bloods of the Sudanese people, he said. He adding that nobody knows horrors of war except those who fought it.

“We came to power to achieve renaissance, peace, development and unity and nobody knows the crimes committed by the rebels except those who lived in the Nuba Mountains,” he added.

The Sudanese army and its allied militias have been fighting SPLM-N rebels in Blue Nile and South Kordofan since 2011 and a group of armed movements in Darfur since 2003.

Last December, negotiations between Khartoum and the SPLM-N stalled after the government delegation insisted that the objective of talks is to settle the conflict in the Two Areas, while the SPLM-N team has called for a holistic approach to resolve ongoing conflicts across Sudan.

(ST)