Sudan VP commends AU’s role in post-conflict reconstruction
KHARTOUM, Sudan, Mar 26, 2005 (PANA) — Sudan’s First Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha has commended the African Union (AU) Ministerial Committee for the role it was playing in his country’s post-conflict reconstruction efforts.
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Sudanese VP with the SPLM leader. |
In a news release obtained here Saturday, Taha thanked the ministerial committee for supporting the ongoing efforts of
the Sudanese government to realise peace and stability in the
largest African country.
Receiving delegation of the AU committee headed by the South
Africa Foreign Minister, Dr Nkosazana Zuma at the Republican
Palace here Friday, Taha said the committee was a model for
African solidarity and co-operation.
Zuma heads the AU Ministerial Committee on Post-Conflict
Reconstruction in the Sudan, which includes foreign ministers
from Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal
and Sudan.
The visit was envisaged last month when the committee met in
Cape Town, South Africa and decided to travel to Khartoum in a bid to understand the country’s requirements.
During Friday’s meeting, Taha briefed the ministers on the steps
adopted by the government in Khartoum to implement the peace
agreement signed with the southern Sudan People Liberation
Army/Movement (SPLA/M) in Nairobi, Kenya on 9 January 2005.
Zuma affirmed that African countries and the AU were keen to see the implementation of that peace agreement so as to stabilise and promote development in the country.
On Thursday, the UN Security Council unanimously approved the
deployment of 10,000 peacekeeping troops, 700 members of the
civilian police in southern Sudan for an initial period of six months.
The force will support the peace agreement that ended more than two decades of civil strife, which killed least 1.5 million people and displaced more than 4 million others.
The peacekeepers would form the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS),
which is expected to liaise and co-ordinate with the African
Mission in Sudan (AMIS).