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Sudanâs Ruling Party Rejects Post-Referendum Rotating Presidency

   Peter Clottey 22 December 2010
   Sudanese  President  Omar  al-Beshir (R) walks with Sudan's First Vice
   President  and  south  Sudan  leader  Salva  Kiir  at  the  airport in
   Khartoum, as he prepares to leave for Chad, 21 Jul 2010

Photo: AFP

   Sudanese  President  Omar  al-Beshir (R) walks with Sudan's First Vice
   President  and  south  Sudan  leader  Salva  Kiir  at  the  airport in
   Khartoum, as he prepares to leave for Chad, 21 Jul 2010

   A  prominent member of Sudanâs governing National Congress Party (NCP)
   has  rejected  reports  that  the  Sudan  Peopleâs Liberation Movement
   (SPLM)  is  demanding  that  Sudanâs presidency be rotated between the
   north  and  south, as a precondition to accepting the countryâs âunity
   instead of secession.â

   Rabie  Abdelati  Obeid  told  VOA  the  SPLMâS  demand  is contrary to
   stipulations  of  the  2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed
   between the north and south.

   âHe  also  said  that,  if the north wants unity, the SPLM and the NCP
   should  work  together not to adopt the Islamic laws. This is an offer
   which is not considered to come from the SPLMâs leader because we only
   have  one  channel.  Either  such  offer  should  come from Salva Kiir
   Mayardit,  who  is the chairman (of SPLM), or through the presidential
   institution.â

   In  a  speech last week, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said that, if
   the south breaks away, his government will change the constitution and
   that,  in  his  words, there will be no question of cultural or ethnic
   diversity. He said Sharia, or Islamic law, will be the main source for
   the constitution and that Arabic will be the official language.

Obeid

   Dr.  Rabie  Abdelati  Obeid  is a prominent member of Sudan's dominant
   National Congress Party (NCP)

   But,  Yasir  Arman,  a leading member of the SPLM, reportedly said his
   party  will  only  accept Sudanâs unity, if south Sudanâs share of the
   oil wealth is âsubstantiallyâ increased.

   Arman  said  the  semi-autonomous  south  will  need the increased oil
   wealth to build and improve its infrastructure.

   Obeid  said Arman had always stirred trouble that, in his words, often
   creates tension between the NCP and the SPLM.

   âYasir Arman is marginalized actually and he was the previous chairman
   of  SPLM  northern sector. (But), now there is nothing called the SPLM
   northern  sector  because  the SPLM is going and calling for secession
   and  I  donât  think  there is any activity of the SPLM in the north,â
   said Obeid.

   âDuring  the interim period when he (Arman) was very active and he was
   a  member  of  the  interim  National  Assembly,  he  was all the time
   disturbing,  creating  a  lot  of  confusion  between the SPLM and the
   NCP.   He  was  a  major  element of making trouble and igniting fire
   between  the  two  partners.  That  is  why  we  donât  consider  this
   declaration  by Yasir Arman, as he has no weight or position and he is
   trying to do something.â

   Both  the  SPLM  and  the  NCP have traded accusations about what they
   described  as  gross  violations  of the 2005 agreement that ended the
   countryâs two decades of civil war.

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