Sudan’s president vows army will protect southern peace treaty

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Jan 16, 2005 (AP) — President Omar el-Bashir vowed that the Sudanese army, which fought rebels in the south for more than 20 years, would now defend the peace agreement concluded earlier this month with those same rebels.

A female member of the ruling National Congress Party shouts ‘Allah Akbar’ or ‘God is the greatest’ as Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir makes a speech in Khartoum, Sudan, Wednesday, Jan 12, 2005. (AP).

El-Bashir spoke Saturday evening to government troops at a garrison in the southern Bahr El-Ghazal state during his tour to laud the peace agreement signed with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, the official Sudan News Agency reported.

“We will not allow any side, be it local or foreign, to spoil this peace, and the armed forces will stand as a strong defense to prevent any such attempt, ” el-Bashir told government troops in Aweil garrison.

Aweil, 840 kilometers southwest of Khartoum, is the second largest city in Bahr El-Ghazal state, the stronghold of the Dinka tribal groups that constitute the backbone of the SPLA fighters and from which came SPLA leader John Garang.

El-Bashir’s government and the SPLA signed the peace treaty Jan. 9 to end Africa’s longest war, which began in 1983 after southerners rebelled, seeking autonomy and control of their resources. Sectarian and ethnic divisions overlaid the conflict that pitted the black, mostly Christian and animist southerners against the Arab and Islamic north.

Two days after signing the agreement, el-Bashir started touring the war-ravaged south on a celebratory swing through former rebel territory. He interrupted his tour Thursday to brief the ruling National Congress party in Khartoum on the peace agreement and flew south again Saturday to Bahr El-Ghazal state, the heart of Sudan’s oil fields.

El-Bashir accused those who coveted Sudan’s oil wealth of being behind the country’s troubles.

“Sudan has been targeted because of its resources, thus many parties would not accept to see Sudan living in peace and stability,” he said, without naming the parties. “The army will be receiving advanced training, with the view to protect peace.”

Under the peace accord, northerners and southerners will share the natural resources along with legislative power. Southern states will be secular, while the northern ones will observe Islamic law. Southerners will also be able to vote in a referendum on self-determination in six years.

El-Bashir said a joint force composed of 24,000 troops from the army and the SPLA would be formed while the rest of the government troops in the south would be pulled back to their units in the north, leaving the internal security for the police force.