---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 11:04 AM Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Fw: Salva Kiir may be relieved from First VP post To: Group <[email protected]>
This is an extremely significant development, and a further breach of the CPA by NCP. First Vice President Salva Kiir's position is far from "ceremonial and without any powers". The CPA defines "the presidency" as being the President with the First and Second Vice Presidents, and a number of key decisions can only be made by "the presidency", ie by all three of them agreeing, not by the President alone. The fact that the NCP has ignored this rule on occasions does not invalidate it. With key decisions coming up on Abyei, Blue Nile, Southern Kordofan and a number of North-South issues, this is an attempt by NCP to remove the First Vice President from any role in decision-making as defined in the CPA, which is valid until 9th July despite the fact that the south has voted for secession. By the same token, it is not clear on what authority NCP has dismissed the southern members of the national legislature several months before the end of the CPA. The interim arrangements for governing the (united) country as laid out in the CPA and the interim constitutions are valid until the end of the CPA on 9th July. John BEGIN 1. Sudan’s Kiir may be relieved from his VP post prior to July, says parliament speaker 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. 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) END1 2. Bashir meets Kiir in Juba, refuses to allow southern MP’s back in parliament April 7, 2011 (JUBA) – Sudan president Omar Al-Bashir has refused to reverse a decision banning south Sudan’s members of the national parliament from attending sessions after their region voted massively to split from the north in a referendum this year. Sources who asked not to be named have told Sudan Tribune that the issue of the participation of southern MPs in the national parliament was not directly included in the agendas of a meeting held on Thursday between Al-Bashir and south Sudan leader Salva Kiir in the region’s capital Juba. They added that the issue was discussed on the margins of the meeting and Al-Bashir stressed that he would not overrule the constitutional articles which prohibit the participation of southern MPs in the parliament if the region voted for secession. However, the sources added, Al-Bashir insisted that south Sudan’s ministers in the national government continue their duties until the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended north-south war and shared power in 2005, expires in July this year. Meanwhile, Al-Bashir-Kiir meeting has reached an agreement to start, as of Friday, the implementation of a UN-moderated agreement signed last January in Sudan’s town of Kadugli to provide security and allay tension in the north-south contested region of Abyei. According to Thabo Mbeki, the chairman of the AU high-level implementation panel on Sudan who attended the meeting, the north-south joint political committee tasked with overseeing Kadugli agreement would hold a meeting today, Friday, to discuss views of both sides on the security situation. Several talks between north and south Sudan have failed to yield an agreement over the oil-producing area of Abyei, where clashes recently occurred between south Sudan police and members of the north-linked nomadic tribe of Messirya. Separately, Mbeki told reporters in Juba that north and south Sudan had decided to participate in a meeting due to be held in Washington on 15 April with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and Sudan’s creditors to discuss the issue of the country’s hefty external debt as well as pending economic issues between the two sides. North and south Sudan agreed last month in Ethiopia to embark on joint efforts to secure relief of the country’s external debt. Another meeting was held in juba between the chief negotiators of north and south Sudan on post-referendum arrangements. Pagan Amum, the secretary-general of the SPLM in south Sudan, on Thursday told reporters that his meeting with Salah Gosh of the NCP in north Sudan had discussed the issues of border demarcation as well as the remaining disputed points in the citizenship issue. (ST) END2 ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan Advisor Sudan Ecumenical Forum [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +249 919 695 362 (Sudan mobile) +27 82 853 3556 (South Africa mobile) +44 750 304 1790 (UK/international) +88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone) PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation -- The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudan-john-ashworth" 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.co.za/group/sudan-john-ashworth -- 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.
