German consultants propose transitional constitution for Sudan

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Feb 21, 2005 (PANA) — In view plans to adapt the Sudanese
Constitution to the exigencies of the six-year transitional
administration agreed between Khartoum and southern separatists
last month, media reports here say a law firm in Germany has come
up with a draft proposal currently in circulation countrywide.

Supporters from north and south Sudan, holding Sudan, and SPLM flags, celebrate Sunday, Jan. 9, 2005, at Nyayo Stadium, Nairobi, Kenya during the signing of Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement. (AP) .

The reports said legal advisers at the Berlin-based Max Plank
Institute drafted the proposed interim Constitution in
consultation with parties to the comprehensive peace agreement –
Khartoum and the southern Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement/Army
(SPLM/A).

“Our organisation has decided to circulate the draft across Sudan
to spur debate on a constitutional framework for the interim
period,” Max Plank Institute director Rodger Wolfram was quoted
Sunday as explaining.

Wolfram said the Sudanese government and the SPLM/A took part in
the drafting process, which involved intense consultations in
eight workshops that were held in Khartoum and in the southern
chief town of Rumbiek.

“Senior government officials, SPLM/A leaders and civil society
activists participated in discussions that led to the current
manuscript,” he affirmed.

Wolfram said the draft took account of the political, cultural,
religious and ethnic diversity of Sudan.

He acknowledged that the revision of the Sudanese Constitution
was the responsibility of a national committee that would be set
up in the coming days.

“We have no interest in intruding into process,” Wolfram said,
insisting “we are only offering some help.”

Khartoum and the SPLM/A sealed a comprehensive peace agreement
last 9 January in Nairobi, Kenya ending more than two decades of
war between the largely Islamic north and mainly Christian and
animist south.

Under the agreement, a transitional administration would be in
place over a period of six years, at the end of which a
referendum would be held on the question of independence for
southern Sudan.

Both parties agreed that the country’s constitution would be
revised to reflect Sudan’s socio-cultural and religious
diversities during the transition.