October 27, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — General Salva Kiir Mayardit, First Vice President of the Republic of Sudan and President of the semi autonomous region of Southern Sudan, said chances of united Sudan are slim and next to impossibility.
- Salva Kiir, First Vice President of the Government of National Unity of Sudan and President of the Government of Southern Sudan (AFP)
However, he was quick to say there are hopes and possibilities that Sudan may remain united given its history full of diversities and intricacies if the ruling national congress party commits to peaceful implementation of the Naivasha peace accord.
Kiir, who was talking to reporters after a meeting on Monday 26, with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, to discuss Sudan’s conflicts, said South Sudan will be forced to succeed from the north in an upcoming referendum because North has intentionally failed to make unity unattractive.
Referring to the famous quote of late Dr.John Garang De Mabior, he said, in his culture and particularly in his home village, no man even if he is the ugliest one loves and prefers marrying an ugly woman.
Therefore, it is the north to try by all means possible win back or restore trust and confidence lost in them by selling better relations to southern brothers and sisters, he said.
He said Khartoum government is never showing any sign of making unity an attractive option for Christian and animist inhabiting south of the country.
Each time South tries seeking better relationship the north, its does the opposite particularly those that reminds people of the past and hard relationships the two regions had undergone, he commented.
Kiir was referring to Malakal and Abyei incidents considered to have been instigated and sponsored by the ruling national congress party through the use of proxy war with their allies such as militias.
Sudan’s longest two-decade civil war ended in a 2005 peace agreement that included a provision for a 2011 referendum for the southerners to choose if they wanted to remain in the country.
Kiir also accused the government of failing to implement fully the peace agreement including the demarcation of the oil-rich border region between the north and the south.
The peace deal put an end to the 21-year-old civil war between north and ex-rebels in the south that left 2 million people dead and 4 million displaced.
But the deal is plagued by distrust between the two sides and has repeatedly threatened to unravel, bringing to the two sides to the brink of war.
In the agreement, Sudan is to conduct posted parliamentary and presidential elections in April 2010 as the first national elections that include South Sudan in four decades as well as the referendum.
These elections are seen as crucial for keeping peace but disputes in recent past have arisen between the two parties over referendum law and census results, which are the basis for drawing election constituencies. They also disagree over the rules for carrying out the referendum.
In Monday’s statement Kiir refused to postpone both the election and the referendum.
(ST)
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