Sudanese President laments cost of civil war

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 9, 2004 (PANA) — Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir Sunday
lamented the cost of the civil wars in the country, saying they
have escalated the government’s military spending at the expense
of economic and social expenditures.

Sudanese President Omar al Bashir addresses after the signing ceremony of two protocols with southern Sudanese rebels in Naivasha, west of Nairobi, December 31, 2004. (Reuters).

In a speech following the signing of a final peace accord to end
21 years of bloodletting in the southern part of the vast African
nation, Bashir said the end of civil wars in Sudan would herald a
new era of peace and social prosperity.

“The blessings this peace accord brings about are immense. Our
people have experienced bitterness and constant displacements;
the end of the war brings about abundant resources; there would
be no more military spending,” he said.

“The just concluded deal is not just a deal…but a new contract
for all Sudanese. It is a comprehensive accord that we must use
to resolve the conflict in Darfur; it offers the Sudanese people
a fair share of their country and ends economic discrimination,”
Bashir underscored.

He strongly warned insurgents in Sudan, blaming them for the
constantly sprouting civil wars in the country, and urged the
international community to help Sudanese to implement the peace
accord.

“Those who are poised to ignite war as soon as we finish
negotiating a peaceful settlement, we ask them to do better than
that or stay put. We will sit with the SPLA to ensure that peace
prevails in all corners of Sudan,” Bashir said.

“Our presence in the national government will facilitate the
solution to the Darfur conflict,” SPLA/M spokesman and
Information Minister-designate, Samson Kwaje told PANA on the
sidelines of the peace agreement signing ceremony.

The SPLA/M followed its goodwill to Khartoum by extending an
olive branch to the Sudan military when John Garang announced the
immediate release of all Prisoners of War in their custody.

SPLA/M spoke of having over 1,000 POWs although Khartoum believes
the number is about 750.

Kwaje said POWs would be shortly released to the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the southern Sudan.

Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army leader John Garang said,
“This is the best Christmas and New Year’s gift for the Sudanese
people, to our region and Africa for 2005. This peace agreement
will change Sudan forever”.

The warring parties were for the first time united in their
resolve to end the wars in the country but Garang blamed
successive governments in Khartoum for the escalating conflicts
in the region.

“Attempts by Khartoum to build the Islamic state defines the
Sudanese conflict,” he pointed out.

Garang said such posture “has excluded all the people of Sudan.
Majority of the people are not stakeholders in the government,
but this is a new political dispensation,” Garang said in an
hour-long speech.

“I appeal to all the Sudanese people and our political forces to
build consensus around this comprehensive peace agreement and use
it to end (conflict) in other parts of Sudan,” he implored.