Sudan’s Kiir may be relieved from his VP post prior to July, says parliament speaker Article Comments (4) Email PrintSave --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
April 9, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The First Vice president of Sudan Salva Kiir may lose his federal post well before the South officially secedes next July, the speaker of the national assembly said today. Salva Kiir Mayardit, the First vice President of Sudan President of the Government of Southern Sudan (AP) Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Tahir was quoted by the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper as saying that he expects Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir to issue a decree removing his VP Kiir from his position which was reserved to the Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) as stipulated by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). Al-Tahir said that this step might be taken because Kiir’s presence in the presidency became ceremonial and without any powers. The speaker also warned the South from pushing for war with the North saying that Khartoum’s response would be "violent". The federal cabinet affairs minister Luka Byong cautioned against taking any steps to force Kiir out saying that this would have "serious consequences" for both North and South. The remarks follow a decision by the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) to exclude Southern MP’s from attending the new session of the parliament which started this month despite strong rebuke of this step by the SPLM. But the Sudanese president said during a visit to Juba that he supports the exclusion of Southern MP’s. Bashir, however promised to let Southern ministers continue in the cabinet until the end of the interim period in three months. The ex-Southern rebel group had said this week that the presidency made a decision to allow Southern MP’s to rejoin the parliament until July. NCP officials argue that article 118 of the constitution imply that Southern MP’s have no representation authority because the constituencies they won in are now in the south which voted last January to become an independent state. (ST) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
