Government of Southern Sudan
Liaison Office - Brussels

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Making Sudan's unity attractive: Ban Ki-Moon comments to the media in Addis Ababa
Tue, February 2 2010
By BLO [Brussels]

Brussels, February 02: International press reports have quoted Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations Secretary-General, as saying that the UN will “work hard to avoid a possible secession” in the context of the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). Various commentators and reporters suggest these comments by the UN Secretary-General are indication that there is an effort to prevent the people of southern Sudan from voting to secede from Sudan. However, remarks of this kind only help to create a perception that the United Nations under the Secretary-General is supporting one outcome of the self-determination vote over another. This would not only be contrary to the mandated functions of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), but could also take the focus away from those outstanding issues of the CPA, whose lack of implementation threaten the very existence of Sudan as a nation.

As a guarantor of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), it is the role of the United Nations, with its mission in Sudan, to ensure that all aspects of the peace agreement are respected by the parties. When the peace agreement was signed under the auspices of the United Nations, African Union, Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Arab League, the European Union and the United States, the National Congress-led government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement affirmed that the people of Southern Sudan shall freely decide their future in a united Sudan or an independent South Sudan. The CPA requires nation-wide elections to be held in less than three months and a referendum on self-determination in January 2011. Given the prominence of the United Nations in the peace process that led to the signing of the CPA and the mandate of the UN Mission in Sudan, it is the role of the United Nations to ensure the full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

Notably, the United Nations has worked to facilitate cooperation between the North and South Sudan ahead of the popular vote on self determination for the people of southern Sudan and Abyei. The challenge for the signatories of the CPA, the UN and the AU is to prepare Sudan, the region and the international community for the possibilities and sequence of events that may follow the referendum. In this regard, it is very crucial that the United Nations and its mission in Sudan commit themselves to assist the signatories of the 2005 peace agreement to resolve key post-referendum issues.

The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Government of Southern Sudan diligently continue to cooperate with Khartoum to make certain that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement is implemented in its entirety and that all sides fulfill their obligations under the accord.

 

 

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