Beshir pledges to boost services, infrastructure in south Sudan

KHARTOUM, Jan 11 (AFP) — President Omar al-Beshir pledged to develop services and infrastructure projects in southern Sudan to encourage the region to remain united with the north, newspapers reported Tuesday.

Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir addresses a crowd in Juba, Sudan Monday Jan. 10, 2004. (AP). .

Following the signing of a peace treaty in Nairobi on Sunday to end two decades of north-south civil war, Beshir set out on a tour of towns in southern Sudan that took him to Juba and Torit, capital of West Equatria State.

The state news agency SUNA said the president made the pledge during his tour and travelled on to Malakal and other towns in Upper Nile State before his scheduled return to Khartoum later Tuesday.

“God willing, we shall safeguard peace, because it is precious, and there will be no return to war,” the president told residents of Malakal, as shown on state-run television, amid drum-beating celebrations.

The television on Monday night showed pictures of Beshir in Juba wearing civilian costume for the first time during his frequent visits to the government-controlled city.

“During my previous visits to Juba, I used to wear a military uniform but today I am in civilian clothes because there is no war,” Beshir was quoted by the official Al-Anbaa daily as saying.

“There will not be war after today,” said Beshir. “The war budget will be directed to education, health and water services.”

The president pledged that his government would connect Juba to Khartoum with an asphalted road and that a road network would link the southern towns with each other as well as with neighbouring Kenya and Uganda.

He also said the railway line, which stops at Wau, would be stretched to reach Juba and then on to Kenya.

“We want all of you to vote ‘yes’ for unity during the referendum,” Beshir told a Juba crowd, adding that the Khartoum government and southern administration would together help rebuild homes and villages in the south.

Southern rebel leader John Garang “has become our brother after the signing of the agreement and we have agreed to construct and rehabilitate the Sudan together and not to allow anyone to take up arms”, said Beshir.

He also pledged to rehabilitate the town of Torit where he said a specialised hospital and a number of schools would be built.

Garang and Sudan’s Vice President Ali Osman Taha signed the peace accord in Kenya, ending 21 devastating years of war that claimed at least 1.5 million lives and displaced another four million people.

Under the peace deal, Juba will become the capital of the south for a six-year period of autonomy followed by a referendum on secession.