Sudanese SPLM, DUP stress necessity of implementing peace deal
KHARTOUM, Apr 6, 2005 (Sudan Tribune) — The opposition Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) have stressed the importance of implementing the peace agreement and the resumption of talks between the government and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Speaking at a reception ceremony held by the DUP at its premises in Khartoum in honour of the SPLM delegation, spokesman of the SPLM delegation, Nhial Deng Nhial, said that their arrival in Khartoum aims to surpass the barriers and impediments, which confront implementation of the peace agreement in general and the formulation of the interim period’s constitution in particular.
He described the proposed constitution for the interim period as the key factor for the implementation of the peace agreement. He stressed the importance of the participation of all the political forces in formulation of the constitution.
He said that the new constitution will guarantee the principles of justice, freedom and equality as well as surpassing tribalism and establishing the basis for national consensus.
He praised the long-standing ties between the SPLM and the DUP since the signing of the 1988 peace agreement by Mohamed Osman al-Mirghani and John Garang.
Deng said that the consultation between the SPLM and the DUP will continue on ground that both of them are members of the NDA.
A preliminary peace agreement between GoS and the NDA signed on 16 January in Cairo, Egypt, determined that the ruling National Congress Party would have a 52 percent stake in the government, while the SPLM/A would have 28 percent. Southern Sudanese who were not SPLM/A supporters would get six percent, the NDA would have a 14 percent share and also participate in the country’s constitutional review.
The Cairo agreement was expected to consolidate the comprehensive peace accord signed between the government and the SPLM/A on 9 January. It supports the southern peace agreement, backs the drafting of a new constitution and calls for the formation of a neutral, professional army.
During the past 16 years, armed NDA members fought alongside the SPLM/A in the southern civil war, which left 2 million people dead, and launched sabotage attacks and other low-level violence in Sudan’s north and east in opposition to el-Bashir’s regime.