Sudan rebel says government delays risk country
CAIRO, Sept 29 (Reuters) – Southern Sudanese rebel leader John Garang said on Wednesday that Africa’s largest country could fall apart unless the government stopped dragging its feet over a peace deal in the south.
The government and southern rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) are to meet in Kenya on Oct. 7, a meeting rebels say has been delayed several times, to finalise a deal to end 21 years of fighting in the south of the oil-producing nation.
The government is also faced with a separate conflict in the the western Darfur region which the United Nations says has created the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.
“We signed the (preliminary) agreement on the June 5, and we are meeting on Oct. 7. That is foot dragging. That is time wasting,” Garang told reporters in Cairo after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
He said the government and southern rebels originally agreed to sign two final annexes to the deal in August or September covering a final ceasefire and implementation methods.
“If they behave as they have done before and dragged their feet, or signed an agreement that they have no intention of implementing, this would be very dangerous for the Sudan. It could lead to the disintegration of the Sudan, and that would be in nobody’s interest at all,” Garang said.
Agreements signed so far cover how to share power and wealth in Sudan, which produces about 300,000 barrels of oil per day worth more than $4 billion a year. They also offer a southern referendum on secession after a six-year interim period.
The war in the south erupted in 1983 when rebels in the animist and Christian area demanded more autonomy from the mainly Muslim north. Oil and ethnicity have muddied matters.
Rebels in Darfur, partly encouraged by the south’s success in bringing Khartoum to talks, took up arms in 2003 calling for a greater share of Sudan’s resources.
“The SPLM … position is there should be self rule for all regions of the Sudan, especially Darfur and southern Sudan, as well as eastern Sudan,” Garang said, dismissing charges that the SPLM had provided weapons to western rebels.
“The SPLM is not involved in any way in terms of the armed opposition in Darfur,” he said.
Egypt had been due to host talks this week between Sudan’s government and the National Democratic Alliance, an opposition group that includes Garang’s SPLM and some northern groups.
An SPLM official said the talks had been delayed, possibly till next week, to ensure all parties were able to attend.