News
Southern Sudan calls for an end to military build-up
Posted Saturday, December 13 2008 at 12:25
Experts on Sudan say that the two partners must consult to avoid a return to war, with Mr Duku arguing that there are warmonger elements within the Sudanese army and NCP who are bent on creating war to subvert the implementation of the Comprehensive Pace Agreement (CPA) that ended the 21-year civil war.
“Some elements in the North have realised that they were pressured by the international community to sign an agreement they cannot wriggle out of. Now they are trying to create a war situation to make them overturn the whole agreement. But they don’t realise that the implementation of the CPA to the full will give confidence to the people of Darfur to agree to a similar arrangement,” said Mr Duku.
The two partners almost went to war in May after an armed group attacked the town of Abyei and burned it to the ground, which resulted in a brief confrontation between SAF and the SPLA. The two sides then agreed to deploy the joint integrated unit in Abyei.
The leadership of Southern Sudan has said that they are not ready to be pushed into war and the SPLA will not fire the first shot, but warn that it should not be pushed to the wall.
A renewed war in South Sudan —the size of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi combined— could destabilise the whole region. Kenya’s manufacturing sector could suffer, given that the bulk of products going to South Sudan are manufactured in Kenya.
Kenya could also suffer from an influx of refugees and proliferation of illegal arms. In essence, a renewed war in Sudan would have a negative impact on Kenya, Uganda, the DRC, Chad and the Central African Republic.
The tension between North and South comes at a time when there are reports of an arms race between the two sides ahead of the 2011 referendum, in which the South is expected to vote to either remain in a united Sudan or secede.
Mr Duku maintained that GOSS is not under any arms embargo, given that the CPA allows the South to procure arms for training and converting the SPLA into a conventional army.
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