From: Yemane Natnael (yemane_natnael@yahoo.com)
Date: Sun Jul 27 2008 - 12:25:04 EDT
SPLM's Kiir to run in Sudan presidential election
Sun 27 Jul 2008, 12:22 GMT
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's former southern rebels said on Sunday
their leader would run for the presidency in elections due next year
under a landmark 2005 peace deal which ended Africa's longest civil war.
Sudan's north-south civil war ended with an accord that shared
power and wealth, created a semi-autonomous south Sudan, and envisaged
democratic elections and a southern vote on secession by 2011.
The southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) joined the
national government and its head, Salva Kiir, became first vice
president.
"The SPLM has officially decided to contest the elections on all
levels including the president's position," senior SPLM official Yasir
Arman told Reuters after an SPLM leadership meeting lasting several
days.
He said Kiir would be nominated for the presidency.
"All the indications show very clearly that the SPLM is going to be
a leading force and will definitely win the elections," he added.
The SPLM has registered tens of thousands of members in northern
Sudan but some in the north say Kiir does not spend enough time in
Khartoum and that many SPLM ministers in the national government have
not been active enough.
The biggest thorn in the north-south accord is the central,
disputed oil-rich region of Abyei which will also vote on secession in
2011.
On Sunday the northern army troops confirmed they had fully
redeployed from the region leaving only a joint north-south army unit
in charge for the first time since the 2005 deal.
"Our redeployment from Abyei has been ongoing for more than three
weeks and yesterday we completed that withdrawal," said Abdel Rahman
Mohamedain a senior official from the northern army.
The withdrawal was part of a roadmap agreed by the two peace
partners to resolve the dispute over Abyei, which they have referred to
The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration. They have not yet
agreed on an administration for the region.
Sudan's north-south deal did not cover a separate conflict in the western Darfur region.
Arman said the Darfur conflict had to be resolved before the elections so that the remote western region could take part.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor sought an arrest
warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on July 14 for genocide,
war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, creating a political
crisis in Sudan.
Arman said the SPLM had drawn up a plan to end the Darfur crisis
and deal with the ICC warrant but would make no details public until it
had met Bashir's National Congress Party (NCP).
"We are looking for a joint leadership meeting between the NCP and
SPLM as soon as possible to discuss the present crisis in the country
and how we can defuse this crisis," Arman added.
Sudan has gained African Union and Arab League support for a U.N.
Security Council resolution suspending any warrant for Bashir for a
renewable 12-month period. Sudan has also indicated it may use national
courts to try Darfur war crimes suspects.
International experts estimate 200,000 people have died and 2.5
million have been driven from their homes in Darfur since mostly
non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003, accusing the central
government of neglect.
Khartoum mobilised mostly Arab militia to quell the revolt who are accused of atrocities such as rape, murder and looting.
Last year the ICC indicted a Sudanese junior government minister
and an allied militia leader for war crimes but Khartoum refuses to
recognise the court. Sudan signed but did not ratify the treaty forming
the ICC.
(Editing by Richard Balmforth)
http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnL7413027.html
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