US, donors to rebuild Sudan after accord – Powell

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 8, 205 (PANA) – The United States will mobilise all the
major donors to channel resources for the reconstruction of
Sudan, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Saturday in
Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.

Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha, left, Chief Mediator Lazaro Sumbeiywo, second left, southern Sudanese rebel leader John Garang, third left, with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, right, are seen before a closed door meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, Saturday, Jan. 8, 2005. (AP).

Powell arrived here Friday ahead of the signing of a
comprehensive peace agreement for Sudan on Sunday.

The US government will help the Khartoum government to
reconstruct the country, ravaged by decades of fierce fighting,
Powell said, and he appealed to the main parties to the
protracted southern Sudan talks to use the peace formula to end
all conflicts in the vast nation.

Powell said the reconstruction of Sudan’s health institutions,
the non-existent roads and the rehabilitation of the entire
infrastructure, required proper evaluation by the relevant donor
organisations before the reconstruction work begins.

The US government announced its willingness to channel resources
for the reconstruction of Sudan but said an actual budget would
be drawn first.

Sudan said it requires 15 billion US dollars to provide essential
services to the citizens in the war-scarred Darfur over a three-
year period and a further 1.8 billion dollars to revive
development projects such as agriculture and small-scale
industries.

The UN late last year launched an appeal for five billion US
dollars to enable the country cater for 1.2 million returnees in
the southern part of the country.

Powell said the US will consult the relevant donors like the
European Union, the United Nations and the UN Security Council
before drawing the budget.

“The US will evaluate the situation in consultation with the
development partners to see what we can do,” Powell told
journalists in Nairobi Saturday.

The outgoing US diplomat was speaking to journalists during a
joint news conference with the Sudan First Vice President Ali
Osman Taha and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement/Army
(SPLA/M), John Garang.

The two principals in the protracted peace negotiations for a
political settlement of the southern Sudan conflict expressed
their willingness to ensure calm prevails in the restive country,
also hit with another conflict in the western region of Darfur.

Taha said the Khartoum is keen on ending the Darfur crisis
through the sound implementation of the North-South peace
agreement, which is due for signing in Nairobi Sunday before an
international audience, including 15 African leaders.

The peace accord, which is expected to bring to an end the 22
years of fierce fighting in the country, includes six protocols
and two implementation modalities accord, which seeks to ensure a
just distribution of economic resources, political power and
wealth in the country.

“The signing of the peace agreement is just the beginning of
peace. Lives have to be restored with hope. The work ahead will
be challenging and difficult,” Powell observed.

Powell told the parties to ensure that the agreements are
implemented and used as models to ending a similar conflict in
Darfur, which at one time, the Khartoum government, said was
perpetuated by the locals to get foreign support.

“The success of the peace accord must be translated into order in
Darfur, bringing the violence in the region to an end and
providing the basic needs to the affected population,” Powell
asserted.

However, Garang who also spoke at the news conference, noted that
although the peace accords were crucial in ending the war in the
south, the rapid implementation would depend on the speed at
which the two parties put in place constitutional tools.

“We have to look at the other parts of Sudan also affected by the
war after the signing of the agreement,” the SPLA/M leader said,
adding that “constitutional tools must be put in place after the
signing of the accord on Sunday.”