SPLM parliament ratifies Sudan peace deal

RUMBEK, Sudan, 24 Jan (AFP) — The legislative body of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement on Monday unanimously ratified the peace deal signed between the government and the southern rebel group to end 21 years of war.

Several thousand people welcome John Garang, leader of the SPLA, on his return in Rumbek, on Saturday January 22, 2005. (AFP).

The National Liberation Council said in a resolution that the “peace accord has been formally and unanimously ratified”, after a session presided over by SPLM chief John Garang.

Despite the resounding approval, many delegates criticised the goverment’s refusal to provide funding for an SPLM army and lift Islamic Sharia laws for the Khartoum region.

The peace deal ends the application of Sharia law in the southern region but it will continue to be implemented in other areas, including Khartoum.

Delegates were also concerned about the role in a future UN peacekeeping mission of Muslim states, who many in the south accuse of being in cahoots with the north during the civil war.

A member of the body, Leonard Logo, told AFP: “It (the debate) was lively. People expressed themselves freely. We feel that it is not a bad deal. It is a good agreement.”

But he added that the capital should be exempted from Sharia law and said some Muslim countries should not be allowed to send peacekeepers as they have “vested interests” in Sudan.

Some SPLM leaders had expressed reservations over the participation of Algeria, Egypt, Malaysia and Pakistan as well as China in the multinational force, he said.

Under the terms of a landmark peace agreement signed in Kenya on January 9 to end two decades of war, Garang is to head an autonomous administration for the south during the six-year lead-up to a referendum on independence.

Both the Khartoum government and fellow members of the Arab League have promised to invest heavily in the post-war reconstruction of the south in a bid to persuade southerners that it is not in their interests to break away.

Some 1.5 million people died and another four million fled their homes during the civil war in south Sudan, Africa’s longest conflict.

More than half of the council’s 220 members attended the debate, including delegates from the Nuba Mountains and southern Blue Nile, two areas of northern Sudan which have special provisions under the agreement.

Both sides had pledged to present the agreement to their respective legislative organs and the National Assembly in Khartoum is expected to raitify it on January 29.