Bashir delineates Sudan’s “second republic”, promises reforms
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July 12, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s president, Omer Hassan al-Bashir,
has outlined the features of his country’s “second republic,”
promising political reforms.
JPEG - 13.6 kb
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, centre, gestures under a Sudanese
flag as he arrives at the National Assembly in Khartoum, Sudan,
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 (AP Photos)
In an address before the country’s parliament on Tuesday, following
his country’s break-up after South Sudan declared independence on
Saturday, Bashir reaffirmed commitment to establishing amicable ties
with the new southern state.
“Today I confirm before you what I had announced in Juba, that our
relations with the budding southern state will be made-up of honoring
agreements and the serious pursuit of consolidating stability and
construction of positive and distinguished neighborly relations driven
by mutual interest and preservation of deeply-entrenched social
relationship between us and our brothers in the south,” Bashir said.
South Sudan officially split and formed its own state in line with the
outcome of the region’s referendum, a vote promised under the 2005
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which halted nearly half a century
of intermittent civil wars with the South.
The Sudanese president reiterated his government’s commitment to
thrashing out unfinished business with the South, in reference to
post-independence arrangements which include, among other things,
sharing of oil revenues.
“In the same spirit with which we implemented all provisions of the
deal [CPA], we shall take on the pending and outstanding issues
despite their sensitivity,” Bashir told the country’s highest
legislative authority.
The Sudanese leader did not omit to address the volatile security
situation in the country’s South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, two
flashpoint regions straddling the borders with South Sudan.
Bashir announced that his government would continue
“highly-concentrated development programs” in the two states which
were devastated by fierce battles during the second Sudanese civil war
1983-2005 as their population largely sided with the South.
He further announced that his government would extend the deadline of
the popular consultation process in the two states, a CPA-mandated
mechanism to ascertain local views on the implementation of that
agreement and how governance relationship with Khartoum should be
re-organised.
“We are working to finalize the process of the popular consultation
endorsed by your assembly last year,” Bashir told parliamentarians.
“I shall not forget to mention that we are in the process of amending
the popular consultation law in order to extend the deadline
stipulated by the law,” Al-Bashir said in reference to the fact that
the popular consultations’ mandate had already expired with the CPA on
July 9.
“I assure people of South Kordofan that we are keen to widen the range
of fair political participation for them and enable them to handle
their own affairs,” he added.
South Kordofan is currently in a state of war after the northern army
clashed with forces aligned with South Sudan. The fighting escalated
into artillery and aerial bombardment carried out by the north’s Sudan
Armed Forces, leading to the killing of hundreds and displacement of
more than 70,000 people, according to UN figures.
(ST)
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