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SPLM Wary of President Bashirâs Referendum Pledge

   Peter Clottey 27 May 2010
   Sudan's  President  Omar al-Bashir makes a speach to parliament during
   the  Oath  of  Office  ceremony,  Thursday, May 27, 2010, in Khartoum,
   Sudan, after being re-elected to office

Photo: AP

   Sudan's  President  Omar al-Bashir makes a speach to parliament during
   the  Oath  of  Office  ceremony,  Thursday, May 27, 2010, in Khartoum,
   Sudan, after being re-elected to office

   The Secretary-General of the Sudan Peopleâs Liberation Movement (SPLM)
   said  Thursday the party welcomes newly-sworn in President Omar Hassan
   Al-Bashirâs vow to conduct a referendum on south Sudanâs future.

   Pagan  Amum  said, despite previous promises, President Bashir and his
   dominant  National Congress Party (NCP) have failed to fully implement
   the  remaining  provisions  of  the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement
   (CPA).

   âOf course, President Bashir has been saying and making this statement
   repeatedly  but,  on  the  ground,  his  party  and  himself have been
   delayingâ¦the  implementation  of the CPA. Up to now, the borders have
   not  been  demarcated, the Abyei border is also not demarcated and the
   referendum  commission is not established. There is a serious delay by
   the   National   Congress   to  roll  out  the  process  of  the  full
   implementation  of the CPA and the conduct of the referendum in time,â
   he said.

   Shortly  after  being sworn in Thursday, President Bashir told Sudanâs
   parliament,  or  national  assembly,  that  he  was  committed  to the
   stipulations  of  the Comprehensive Peace Agreement on the timeline of
   south  Sudanâs  self  determination  referendum.  He  also promised to
   peacefully resolve the ongoing problems in the restive Darfur region.

   President  Bashir, along with other NCP officials, has often expressed
   commitment towards the full implementation of the CPA that effectively
   ended  over  two decades of civil war between the north and the south.
   But,  the  SPLM says the dominant NCP lacks the political will to keep
   its promises.

   Amum said the NCP has avoided implementing key provisions of the peace
   accord.

   âThe  most  important aspects of the CPA are not implemented, that is,
   the  border  demarcation,  which  should have been demarcated in 2005.
   More  than  five  years  later,  the  north-south  border has not been
   demarcated,â Amum said.

   As  part  of  the CPA, a referendum is scheduled for January that will
   allow  southern  Sudanese  to determine whether to be part of Sudan or
   secede and become an independent country.

   Amum  said  the SPLM will work with the NCP to implement the remaining
   provisions of the CPA.

   âOur  next  move  is to continue engaging the National Congress and to
   hold  them  to  implement and make true this commitment that they have
   signed  in  the CPA, that they are now repeatedly saying that they are
   for  full implementation of the CPA⦠In the remaining period, we want
   to  make  sure  that the referendum takes place in time (and) that the
   results  of  the  referendum  and the choice of the people of southern
   Sudan be respected,â Amum said.

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