New York, Jul 22 2010 6:10PM
The two parties to the peace pact ending the north-south civil war in Sudan have shown a genuine willingness to cooperate on arrangements for an upcoming referendum on whether the south should secede, despite understandable tensions between them, a senior United Nations official said today.
Haile Menkerios, the Secretary-General's Special Representative in Sudan and the head of the UN peacekeeping mission set up following the end of the civil war, said the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) deserved credit for the discussions so far.
He told Radio Miraya, which is operated by the mission (known as <"http://unmis.unmissions.org/">UNMIS), that it was natural for there to be tensions and suspicions about the referenda.
Sudanese are slated to go to the polls early next year to vote on whether the south should secede from the rest of the country and also to determine the final status of Abyei, an oil-rich area in the centre of the country. These ballots are part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the 2005 deal that ended the long-running civil war.
Mr. Menkerios noted that the two sides held discussions this week on such post-referenda issues as citizenship, the demarcation of borders and financial arrangements, including the settling of debts.
"All this indicates that they are seriously thinking about [the] possibilities that would come – that there could be a possibility of separation, although the possibility of unity is not counted out," he said.
Mr. Menkerios stressed that he was pleased that the discussions have focused "on how they are to continue to cooperate," whether they end up as two separate States or united as one.
"I am confident they will do it. It may be a bumpy road… but they will see through it and we will be them to help them."
UNMIS is mandated to play "a robust role" in supporting the referenda, he noted, adding that the mission is already planning to deploy numerous staff at the state and county level in such areas as security.
"Our police will be co-located with the South Sudan police up to the county level and will be more pro-active than they were last time, because it's demanded, because it's requested and because it's necessary."
Earlier this year Sudan held presidential and parliamentary elections, the first of their kind in the country for 24 years.
Jul 22 2010 6:10PM
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