Museveni, Obama discuss Sudan poll
Sep 27, 2010
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has urged the two parties to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) on Sudan to ensure that it is fully implemented and the referendum held as scheduled.
By Vision Reporter
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has urged the two parties to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) on Sudan to ensure that it is fully implemented and the referendum held as scheduled.
Museveni made the call on Friday during a meeting with US President Barack Obama and other leaders on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York, according to a State House statement.
The meeting, which was organised by UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon, was attended by African heads of state and the chairman of the African Union Commission.
South Sudan is scheduled to vote on January 9 on whether to secede or to remain part of a united Sudan. Most people, however, believe that it will opt to split Africa’s largest nation in two.
The referendum was a key provision of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement between north and south Sudan that ended a decades-long civil war, during which about two million people were killed.
Another referendum will take place simultaneously in the contested oil-rich region of Abyei, where residents will have to decide whether they want to be part of north or join south Sudan. The commission to run that vote has not yet been appointed.
“The Comprehensive Peace Agreement was negotiated over a long time under the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and, therefore, no delays and variations must be entertained now,†Museveni was quoted as saying.
Museveni said Sudan was an Afro-Arab country, but the problem over the years was that some groups were trying to run Sudan as an Arab country, disregarding the Africans.
President Obama observed that although the implementation of the CPA seemed to be behind schedule, the referendum must take place.
He decried the situation in Darfur, where over two million people have been killed and millions displaced. Obama said the US will not abandon the people of Darfur in their quest for peace and called on the government of the Sudan to end the conflict there.
“No nation can impose progress and peace on another nation. This must be made by the people themselves and their leaders in fulfilling their obligations,†he said.
“The US will support the promotion of dignity and human rights in the whole of the Sudan,†he added.
The vice-president of the Sudan, Ali Uthman Taha, who represented President Omar al-Bashir, assured the summit that his country was committed to the CPA, holding of a peaceful referendum on self-determination of Southern Sudan and the comprehensive resolution of the conflict in Darfur.
He called for the lifting of economic sanctions on Sudan and the urgent need to have his country struck off the list of countries that support terrorism.
The first vice-president of Sudan and president of Southern Sudan, Gen. Salva Kiir, said the CPA remains the cornerstone for peace in the Sudan. He said although there are difficulties, the referendum will take place as scheduled for the people to determine their destiny.
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has urged the two parties to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) on Sudan to ensure that it is fully implemented and the referendum held as scheduled.
Museveni made the call on Friday during a meeting with US President Barack Obama and other leaders on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York, according to a State House statement.
The meeting, which was organised by UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon, was attended by African heads of state and the chairman of the African Union Commission.
South Sudan is scheduled to vote on January 9 on whether to secede or to remain part of a united Sudan. Most people, however, believe that it will opt to split Africa’s largest nation in two.
The referendum was a key provision of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement between north and south Sudan that ended a decades-long civil war, during which about two million people were killed.
Another referendum will take place simultaneously in the contested oil-rich region of Abyei, where residents will have to decide whether they want to be part of north or join south Sudan. The commission to run that vote has not yet been appointed.
“The Comprehensive Peace Agreement was negotiated over a long time under the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and, therefore, no delays and variations must be entertained now,†Museveni was quoted as saying.
Museveni said Sudan was an Afro-Arab country, but the problem over the years was that some groups were trying to run Sudan as an Arab country, disregarding the Africans.
President Obama observed that although the implementation of the CPA seemed to be behind schedule, the referendum must take place.
He decried the situation in Darfur, where over two million people have been killed and millions displaced. Obama said the US will not abandon the people of Darfur in their quest for peace and called on the government of the Sudan to end the conflict there.
“No nation can impose progress and peace on another nation. This must be made by the people themselves and their leaders in fulfilling their obligations,†he said.
“The US will support the promotion of dignity and human rights in the whole of the Sudan,†he added.
The vice-president of the Sudan, Ali Uthman Taha, who represented President Omar al-Bashir, assured the summit that his country was committed to the CPA, holding of a peaceful referendum on self-determination of Southern Sudan and the comprehensive resolution of the conflict in Darfur.
He called for the lifting of economic sanctions on Sudan and the urgent need to have his country struck off the list of countries that support terrorism.
The first vice-president of Sudan and president of Southern Sudan, Gen. Salva Kiir, said the CPA remains the cornerstone for peace in the Sudan. He said although there are difficulties, the referendum will take place as scheduled for the people to determine their destiny.