From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Wed Dec 23 2009 - 12:37:58 EST
U.S. says Sudan government undermines peace process
Wed Dec 23, 2009 3:51pm GMT
* U.S. says Khartoum 'reneged' on referendum conditions
* Urges immediate steps to improve electoral environment
* Comprehensive peace deal of 2005 seen shaky
By Andrew Quinn
WASHINGTON, Dec 23 (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday accused
Sudan's ruling party of undermining the fragile peace process, a sign that
U.S. offers of increased engagement with Khartoum are failing to bring
results.
The State Department said the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), which
dominates the north, had reneged on a deal setting conditions for a January
2011 independence vote in the oil-rich south, a move that could spark new
political hostilities.
"Reneging on the agreement ... undermines the peace process, jeopardizes
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) implementation and risks sparking
renewed hostilities between the parties," the department said in a
statement.
It also expressed deep concern about Sudan's revised national security act,
which it said contained no new measures for accountability of the security
services ahead of the independence vote and a separate national election
next year.
"For elections to be credible, it is incumbent on the regime to demonstrate
in word and deed that this law will not be used to arrest and detain
political opponents," the statement said.
"The government of Sudan must also make immediate and significant
improvements to the electoral environment, including permitting peaceful
demonstrations, ending press censorship and allowing opposition voices to be
heard."
The Obama administration in October renewed economic sanctions on Khartoum
but also offered new incentives to end violence in Darfur and the
semi-autonomous south.
While critics said the new policy was not tough enough, U.S. officials
stressed there would be significant consequences if Khartoum failed to make
democratic changes.
RETURN TO WAR?
In the latest sign of trouble, Sudan's parliament on Tuesday approved a bill
setting conditions for a January 2011 referendum on southern independence,
despite a walk-out by the south's dominant Sudan People's Liberation
Movement (SPLM).
According to the bill, 60 percent of the southern Sudanese electorate will
have to turn out to make the referendum legitimate. South Sudan will split
from the north if more than half of voters choose independence.
But the SPLM walked out before the vote, criticizing one of the bill's
articles that allowed South Sudanese living in the north to register and
vote.
Analysts warn the south could return to war if there is any sign Khartoum
will not go through with the vote and that would have a devastating impact
on the country, its oil industry and stability in the region.
The State Department said the NCP had "reneged" on an earlier deal with the
SPLM on the wording of the bill and urged the text to be returned to its
original state before the bill is signed into law.
South Sudan secured the independence vote, due in January 2011, as part of a
2005 peace accord that ended two decades of civil war with the north that
killed 2 million people.
Many southerners, embittered by years of bloodshed, are thought to favor
independence. SPLM leaders have been making increasingly separatist public
comments in recent months.
Secession would mean Khartoum would lose control of most of the country's
proven oil reserves, although the landlocked south is dependent on northern
pipelines to carry its oil to Port Sudan on the Red Sea.
(Reporting by Andrew Quinn; editing by David Alexander and Stacey Joyce)
C Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
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