Showing posts with label British Library. Show all posts
Showing posts with label British Library. Show all posts

Thursday, January 06, 2011

FULL TEXT: AU & AUHIP Chair Mbeki's Speech at Khartoum University - N. Sudan is no less “African” than S. Sudan

Quote of the Day
"Should Sudan divide, it will not divide into an “African” south and an “Arab” north, still less into two states divided by adherence to different faiths. In the case of secession, the multi-ethnic, multi-religious African country of Sudan will divide into two countries, north and south, both of which are equally African, and both of which will of necessity embrace diversity.

We hold firmly to the view that northern Sudan is no less “African” than southern Sudan, and that Islam is a religion of Africa, just as the Arabs of Sudan and the Mahgreb are people of Africa. As pan-Africans we are proud of the achievements of the Arab and Muslim civilisations on this continent, which we regard as an integral part of our heritage.

Contemporary African generations should not use religion and race to divide Africa. Rather, inspired by many examples from Africa’s past, they should work to ensure that our diversity unites our continent". -Thabo Mbeki, Chairman of African Union and African Union High Level Implementation Panel on Sudan (AUHIP), former President of South Africa, Wednesday, 05 January 2011, Khartoum University, Sudan. (Source: See report below)
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Sudan in Africa: A Vision for the Future
Source: Alex de Waal's blog Making Sense of Sudan - www.blogs.ssrc.org
Date: Wednesday, 05 January 2011. Full copy:
LECTURE BY THABO MBEKI, CHAIRPERSON OF THE AUHIP,
FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF KHARTOUM: FRIENDSHIP HALL, KHARTOUM, JANUARY 5, 2011.

Director of Ceremonies,
President Pierre Buyoya,
Students and staff of the University of Khartoum,
Your Excellencies Ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen:

On behalf of the African Union High Level Implementation Panel for Sudan I would like to thank the University of Khartoum and its Peace Research Institute for giving us the opportunity to address this important gathering today.

When the Panel was constituted, at the conclusion of our work as the AU Panel on Darfur, the Peace and Security Council of the AU said our mandate was to work with the Government and people of Sudan (i) to pursue policies it had adopted focused on the resolution of the conflict in Darfur, (ii) to assist in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, and (iii) to support the process of the democratisation of Sudan.

And as you can see, this mandate covers virtually all the important challenges currently facing Sudan. For this reason, to honour our present and earlier mandates, we have spent the greater part of the past 21 months here in Sudan, having had virtually to defer all our other engagements in our own countries.

You may ask why I have told you all of this.

I thought this might be important in order to communicate what I believe is an important message. That message is that your Continent, Africa, and its premier organisation, the African Union, are deeply concerned to do everything possible to assist the sister people of Sudan to address the challenges I have mentioned.

As a token of its seriousness in this regard, the AU did what it had never done before and appointed three former Heads of State to act as its Task Force to help resolve what the Union views as matters that are of critical importance to the future of our Continent.

As students or casual observers of African politics, especially as you celebrated your 55th anniversary of independence only four days ago, you will be aware of the fact that most commentators and African histories say that Ghana was the first sub-Saharan country to gain independence after the Second World War.

The historical reality however is that it was this country, Sudan, that gained its independence more than a year ahead of Ghana, which became independent in 1957.

The question therefore arises – why is the mistake made so repeatedly, that Ghana became independent ahead of Sudan, with many of even your fellow Africans even being unaware of when Sudan gained its independence!

The truth is that this mistake derives from this country’s unhappy history.

As all of us know, a year ahead of your independence, in 1955, a rebellion broke out in Southern Sudan. The essential reason for the rebellion was that your compatriots in the South saw the impending independence as a threat to them, which they elected to oppose by resorting to the weapons of war.

I would like to suggest that it was the 1955 rebellion, and the subsequent first civil war, which communicated the firm message to the overwhelming majority of your fellow Africans, throughout Africa, that Sudan’s independence was not complete as it still had to complete the process of decolonisation.

It is from this that the view emerged that Ghana was the first sub-Saharan African country post-Second World War to achieve independence.

I am certain that you will have understood from what I have said that I believe that it was inevitable that as long as the rest of the continent entertained the belief that Sudan had not yet addressed the important issue of the peaceful coexistence of its diverse communities, so long would it sustain an ambivalent attitude towards this country’s independence.

That ambivalence was further reinforced by the outbreak of the second civil war in 1983 which encompassed not only southern Sudan but also the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile, and finally ended 21 years later when the CPA was signed. As you would expect, it was also fed by the rebellions which broke out in Eastern Sudan and Darfur.

Before I proceed any further, I would like to say something else about our Panel.

We have come among you not as foreigners, but as fellow Africans who are convinced that we share a common destiny. Accordingly, it is not possible for us to distance ourselves from the problems that this sister country and people face, arguing that these are Sudanese problems. To us the problems of Sudan are our problems, its challenges and successes our challenges and successes.

Accordingly we cannot and will not stand on some high pedestal, as some from somewhere else in the world do, demanding that Sudan must do this or do the other. Rather we will say, let us, together, do this or do the other, while, at the same time, we respect the sovereign right of the people of Sudan to determine their destiny.

This also means that to solve our common problems, to respond together to our common challenges and to determine our shared destiny as one African people, we must speak to you and to one another about those problems, challenges and destiny, frankly and openly as fellow combatants for Africa’s renewal who share the same trenches.

It is in this spirit that we speak to you today, to respond to one another as the fellow combatants for Africa’s renewal, who share the same trenches I have mentioned.

The reality we face as we discuss Sudan’s contemporary challenges is that during the British colonial period, this city, Khartoum, and its wider environs came to serve as the focal point of the concentration of political and economic power, leaving the rest of the country as a marginalised, disempowered and underdeveloped periphery.

It was inevitable that sooner or later this periphery would rebel to contest its marginalisation, as was signalled by the South Sudan rebellion which broke out in 1955.

Part of our tragedy is that throughout the years of independence, until the conclusion of the CPA in 2005, the Darfur Peace Agreement in 2006 and the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement again in 2006, ruling groups in this country failed successfully to resolve the problem posed by the polarisation of Sudan into one centre and many peripheral regions.

Rather, to maintain its position of dominance and privilege, the centre chose to rely on the use of force and the silencing of the voice of the periphery by doing its best to stifle democratic opinion and action, seeing such democratic expression as a threat to its continued survival.

The historic peace agreements signed in 2005 and 2006 represented a decisive break with this costly past, a great leap forward away from the heritage which independent Sudan inherited from the inherently unjust and unsustainable colonial construct imposed on Sudan by the British-dominated Anglo-Egyptian Condominium.

All three of us, members of the AU Panel for Sudan, have had direct experience of radical change in our own countries.

Accordingly, all three of us, both singly and collectively, are especially sensitive to the challenges and enormous burdens those charged by historical circumstance to exercise the function of leadership have to face and carry during periods requiring radical political and social change.

We are therefore very mindful of the sacrifices the political leaders of Sudan have to make, even in terms of their personal lives, to play their roles as change agents for the creation of a new reality which portends a future of hope, of happiness and a better life for all the people of Sudan.

In this regard, we would like to pay special tribute to their Excellencies, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and Vice President Ali Osman Taha.

All of us owe the outstanding Sudanese and African success of the conclusion of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, to the courage of these eminent Sudanese and African patriots to break with a painful past, and their commitment to work for a life of peace, of happiness and prosperity for all Sudanese men, women and children.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank these respected leaders and their colleagues for the manner in which they have opened theirs and all other doors in Sudan to enable us to do what we have had to do to discharge our obligation to work with all Sudanese to help determine our shared destiny.

We will continue confidently to rely on them, as must the Sudanese people as a whole, to continue to work for the implementation of the Peace Agreement we have mentioned, since they are not only signatories to those Agreements, but also their most eminent Guarantors.

We are also confident that the search for peace in Darfur will be pursued to a successful conclusion and that the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement will also be implemented fully, to become another African success.

Yesterday, speaking in Juba, President Bashir displayed once again his commitment to the CPA and his qualities of national leadership. Indeed we would believe that there is no greater test of statesmanship than to accept, in a graceful, generous and humane manner, the decision of those of your people who have the opportunity to choose secession. President Bashir’s Juba speech demonstrated that he, and the Sudanese leadership, are indeed rising to the occasion, meeting the challenge of the exercise of self-determination by the southern Sudanese.

Similarly we would like to pay equal tribute to the late Dr John Garang de Mabior, so cruelly taken away from all of us by a most unfortunate accident, and His Excellency the First Vice President of the Republic and President of the Government of South Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit.

In particular, together, these two outstanding African patriots and their colleagues, overcame the constraints imposed on them and the people they led and lead by the pain and bitterness which are an unavoidable part of four decades of a deadly civil war.

Thus did they commit themselves to work to make the continued unity of the Sudanese people attractive, inspired by the noble vision to build a Sudan that would be characterised by forgiveness and reconciliation, informed by the imperative to achieve peace and friendship among all Africans, while fully respecting the right to self-determination of the people of Southern Sudan.

Again we would like to use this opportunity to thank H.E. President Salva Kiir Mayardit for everything he has done to facilitate the work of our Panel, being available at all times to receive us and listen to our views.

And again we will continue to rely on him, as must the Sudanese people as a whole, to continue to contribute to the reconstruction of Sudan, regardless of the outcome of the South Sudan Referendum, to help guarantee that all Sudanese live in conditions of peace, of democracy, prosperity and mutually beneficial cooperation.

Those with little knowledge of Africa might conclude that the remarks I made earlier concerning our Continent’s ambivalence about the meaning of Sudan’s independence in 1956 represent the only factor that defines the attitude of the rest of Africa towards the sister people of Sudan.

What might therefore come across as a paradox to these is that, to the contrary, Sudan is for us as Africans, a valuable geographic and human segment of our Continent which inspires both pride and hope.

For a millennium Europe accustomed itself to a particularly negative and dehumanising view of all of us as Africans. For instance in his Natural History, the Roman, Pliny the Elder, wrote:

“Then come regions (in Africa) that are purely imaginary: towards the west of the Ethiopian Kingdom of Merowe are… the Agriophagi (wild-beast eaters), who live chiefly on the flesh of panthers and lions; the Pamphagi (eat-alls), who devour everything; the Anthropophagi (man-eaters), whose diet is human flesh.”

In the end this presentation of the African as a wild wild-beast eater, an omnivore and a cannibal, cultivated a demeaning vision of ourselves as Africans, which created the ideology which made it possible for our neighbours north of the Mediterranean to see us as fit objects to serve them as slaves, and whose lands they could later seize and treat as their property, and us as their colonial subjects, whom the colonisers said had every reason to be happy to be colonised and therefore exposed to their civilising influence.

However, and fortunately, contrary to the view of ourselves propagated by those inspired by notions of white supremacy, we now know of Nubian Sudan and its seminal contribution to the evolution of human civilisation and can see this contribution for instance in the pyramids north of this city, which are older than those of Egypt, and the ancient artefacts and remains, including mummies, which are in the National Museum located in this city.

Five thousand years ago the capital city of Kerma was one of the wonders of the world, its artists creating monumental granite statues of the Nubian Pharoahs of the era. Even today, archaeologists are making new finds, uncovering the true extent of the ancient civilisations of Sudan, which confirm that the first cities in the world were established along the banks of the Nile in Sudan.

I would like to believe that many among us here will be familiar with the comments made by the outstanding Senegalese scholar, Cheik Anta Diop, in his famous book, Civilisation or Barbarism.

Among other things Diop writes of “proof (being) now established that Nubian monarchy is the oldest in the history of humanity” and that the “Nubian royalty, which appears to us with the future essential attributes of the Egyptian monarchy, had preceded it by at least three generations.”

I refer to this ancient history because of its critical importance in the struggle we have to continue to wage as Africans, to reclaim our place as equals with other human beings, and not the sub-humans others claimed we were, thus to justify our transportation out of Africa as slaves and our subjugation as colonial subjects.

As I have indicated, much of that ancient history originates from this country, and serves to confirm Africa’s critical contribution to human civilisation. This cannot but position Sudan in our consciousness as Africans as a source of pride, a place from which we should draw inspiration as we work to achieve the renaissance of our Continent.

Further to this, Sudan gives us pride because it is a crossroads of Africa. Among the Sudanese, we find individuals and whole communities that originate from different corners of Africa. Every border, whether north, south, east or west, is straddled by communities that live both in Sudan and in the neighbouring countries.

Thus do we have Nubians here and in Egypt, the Beja in Sudan, Egypt and Eritrea, the Nuer and the Anuak here and in Ethiopia, the Toposa shared with Kenya, the Acholi and Madi here and in Uganda, and the Zande here and the Congo.

The Fertit people are also in the Central African Republic and the Masalit, Zaghawa, Salamat and Rizeigat also in Chad.

The Zaghawa, the Zayadiya and the Meidob are also in Libya, as the Rashaida are on both sides of the Red Sea.

Immigration from West Africa, over many generations, has also enriched Sudan. Literally millions of people of West African origin are to be found in Sudan, fully integrated and accepted as Sudanese citizens.

We also find the very African identity of Sudan in the manner in which Islam and Arabic were introduced to this country. As the eminent Sudanese historian Yusuf Fadl Hasan has shown, Islam came to Sudan peacefully, not through invasion. The rulers of Sennar and later of Darfur embraced Islam, and adopted the use of the Arabic language for jurisprudence and for religious teaching, without compulsion.

Reflecting modern scholarship on the Funj kingdom, Professor Mahmood Mamdani writes:

“This historical narrative clarifies one noteworthy fact: ‘Arab’ signified the cultural self-identity of the new middle class. To be sure, there were immigrant ‘Arabs’, many of whom intermarried and became Sudanese over generations. As a group, however, the Arabs of the Nile Valley in northern Sudan are native Arabs. Using today’s political vocabulary, they are African Arabs.”
The Sudanese nation is a true melting pot of African peoples. Sudan’s Pan-Africanism has been of the most practical kind, welcoming and integrating people from across the continent. It has provided the Sudanese people with an exceptionally rich cultural heritage, and an unparalleled tradition of accepting and absorbing people.

To emphasise our pride in this country as Africans, we can also speak of the historic struggles waged by many Sudanese patriots to resist the colonisation of our Continent. In this context we would speak of resistance leaders whom you know, such as Mohamed Ahmed al Mahdi, the Masalit Sultan Taj el Din Ismail, the Zande King, Gbudwe Basingbe, the Nuer Prophet, Ngundeng and his son, Wek, and Ali Abdel Latif who called for the self-determination for the peoples of the Nile Valley in 1922, which was followed by the formation of the White Flag League two years later.

I have said everything I have said about the ancient history of Sudan, its character as an African crossroads and welcoming home for all Africans and its historic and heroic engagement in the struggle against the colonisation of our Continent both to indicate our pride in this country and to emphasise its responsibilities to the rest of Africa.

In this context I said that Sudan also serves as a place of hope for the rest of our Continent, which I will explain shortly.

We have gathered here a mere four days before the people of Southern Sudan vote in the historic referendum which will determine whether this remains one country or separates into two independent states.

In this context we would like to emphasise that should Sudan divide, it will not divide into an “African” south and an “Arab” north, still less into two states divided by adherence to different faiths. In the case of secession, the multi-ethnic, multi-religious African country of Sudan will divide into two countries, north and south, both of which are equally African, and both of which will of necessity embrace diversity.

We hold firmly to the view that northern Sudan is no less “African” than southern Sudan, and that Islam is a religion of Africa, just as the Arabs of Sudan and the Mahgreb are people of Africa. As pan-Africans we are proud of the achievements of the Arab and Muslim civilisations on this continent, which we regard as an integral part of our heritage.

Contemporary African generations should not use religion and race to divide Africa. Rather, inspired by many examples from Africa’s past, they should work to ensure that our diversity unites our continent.

We proceed from this understanding in our consideration of the challenges which Sudan faces today and how the country is responding to these challenges.

Few countries in the world have had a more troubled legacy, dating back to an exceptionally bloody and bitter experience of imperial conquest, and including extreme divergence in methods of imperial rule and levels of social and economic development. In its post-colonial history, Sudan has struggled with unusually acute versions of the same challenges as other African nations, namely how to construct a polity informed by the principle and practice of forging unity in diversity.

It is natural that as we approach the South Sudan referendum, you in this hall, the Sudanese people as a whole and the rest of our Continent are keenly interested to know the answer to the question – whither Sudan?

What we would like to say to you in this regard is that we are convinced that regardless of the outcome of the referendum, you and all of us should use it as a decisive moment which gives Sudan the historic possibility to make a new beginning, a new start towards a future of hope, of peace and a better life for all the people of Sudan.

It is also a decisive moment for Sudan in the context of its role and place in Africa. As it makes its new start, Sudan has the possibility to convey important lessons to the rest of our Continent, for the benefit of the peoples of Africa, about how to establish genuine and lasting peace after a period of war and how to construct successful societies and states based on true respect for the rich diversity characteristic of many African countries and so clearly exemplified by this country.

A former leader of this country, the late President Jaafar el-Nimiery, presented this challenge to make a new beginning to his fellow Sudanese in 1975 when he said:

“Unity based on diversity has become the essence and the raison d’etre of the political and national entity of many an emerging African country today. We take pride in that the Sudan of the Revolution has become the exemplary essence of this new hope. The Sudan is the biggest country in Africa. It lies in its heart and at its crossroads. Its extensive territory borders nine African countries. Common frontiers mean common ethnical origins, common cultures and shared ways of life and environmental conditions. Trouble in the Sudan would, by necessity, spill over its frontiers, and vice versa. A turbulent and unstable Sudan would not therefore be a catalyst of peace and stability in Africa, and vice versa.”

President Nimeiry was not, of course, able to fulfil this vision during his long rule which degenerated into dictatorship. His immediate successors, General Abdel Rahman Suwar al Dahab and Prime Minister Sadiq el-Mahdi, focused their energies on another proud strand of the Sudanese political tradition, namely nurturing democracy. Today, Sudan needs both the embrace of diversity and the promotion of democracy.

During the years of independence struggle, Sudan possessed one of the strongest progressive movements in Africa and the Middle East. The trade unions, the Communist Party and the University of Khartoum, were all beacons of progressive thought and action. And indeed, Sudan’s Islamist movement, though inspired by thinkers in Egypt, Pakistan and elsewhere, was and remains an authentically Sudanese, and hence African, movement.

We are arguing that the peace and transformation processes represented by the CPA, the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement and the Peace Agreement for Darfur currently under discussion present Sudan with the opportunity of which Jaafar el-Nimeiry spoke 35 years ago, to position itself as “the exemplary essence of the new hope in Africa” which would be expressed by the success of Sudan, whether as one or two countries, to achieve social and national cohesion through meaningful respect for the diversity of its population.

Relying on our experience in this country during the last 21 months, we would make bold to say that the overwhelming majority of the broad Sudanese leadership and the people as a whole are determined to respond to the challenge of making the new beginning, the new start of which I have spoken.

In this context, let me deal with a few of the tasks which have to be carried out as part of that new beginning.

As you know, some in the rest of the world have persisted in communicating the false and negative messages that the Government of Sudan would do everything possible to ensure that the South Sudan referendum does not take place and that if it does, resulting in the secession of the South, this would lead to the resumption of the war between the North and the South.

The truth these naysayers, driven by a superior sense of themselves, do not want to accept is that the Sudanese people and the Sudanese leaders are perfectly rational human beings, who are deeply committed to peace and well being for all the people of Sudan. The Sudanese leaders committed themselves to the CPA because it was the right thing to do for the Sudanese people, not because they were so dictated to or pressured by the international community.

The referendum will take place, to fulfil the commitment made in the CPA. If the people of South Sudan vote for separation there will be no war, since the peace brought about by the CPA will be sustained.

And yet, the more the people of Sudan have communicated these messages in unequivocal terms, those who do not wish Sudan well, have grown ever more strident in their propagation of their scenarios of gloom and doom.

We are very happy that their ill-advised expectations will be disappointed as the leaders and people of Sudan honour their solemn undertakings and do what is right for them and the rest of Africa.

We are equally very happy to inform this important gathering that both the Government of Sudan and the SPLM have made the solemn and vitally important commitment that should the people of South Sudan vote for secession, they will work to ensure the emergence and peaceful coexistence of two viable states, informed by the objectives of renewed friendship and cooperation between the people of the North and the South.

Among other things, the concept of the construction of two viable states means that the two governments will work together to ensure that each of the states they lead will achieve such viability in all areas of human activity, including the economy, security and stability, national unity and territorial integrity.

It also means that the two governments will take all necessary measures to ensure that the southerners resident in the North and the northerners in the South are not adversely affected by the separation in terms of their socio-economic rights. Among other things this means that nobody will be rendered stateless.

Similarly, it means that the two states will maintain a ‘soft border’, to allow the people in both states to continue to interact with one another with no negative impact in terms of their economic and social relations and in terms of respect for the rights of the nomadic pastoralists.

At the same time, other outstanding commitments will be met, including the conduct of the Popular Consultations in Blue Nile and South Kordofan, the resolution of the issue of Abyei and the demarcation of the North-South border.

What all this means is that if Sudan becomes two states six months hence, on 9th July, the necessary decisions will have been taken which will make it possible for Sudan to make the new start I have mentioned, which will be a new beginning informed by a shared determination to ensure that all of the citizens of present day Sudan live a better life of equality, a shared peace, a shared friendship and a shared prosperity.

Even if the people of South Sudan vote for unity, this will also mean that Sudan will again be obliged to make a new beginning, basing itself on the objectives contained in the CPA, again to ensure that the people of Sudan enjoy a better life of equality, of that shared peace, and shared friendship and shared prosperity.

It is within this context that the work will continue finally to resolve the conflict in Darfur. In this regard we would like to express our appreciation for the enormous amount of work that has been done by the AU/UN Joint Chief Mediator for Darfur and the Government of the State of Qatar to facilitate the conclusion of a comprehensive peace and political agreement for Darfur through the Doha negotiations.

This agreement will require the support of the people of Darfur as a whole. Accordingly it has been agreed that the outcome of the Doha negotiations will, as soon as possible, be submitted to an inclusive process which will take place in Darfur, to give the people in this region the opportunity to help to determine their future within the Republic of Sudan.

We are happy that the Government of Sudan has agreed to all of this, which would give effect to a decision taken by the African Union in October 2009, and which was later endorsed by the United Nations.

Consistent with the new beginning we have mentioned, the agreement which will emerge through the inclusive Darfur process will address all the necessary issues, such as power and wealth sharing, compensation and development, justice and reconciliation, and the place of Darfur within the larger Sudanese polity.

Thus should this agreement lay the basis to end what in our October 2009 Report we described as the crisis of Sudan in Darfur.
We are hopeful that this outcome will be achieved well ahead of the end of the CPA interim period on 9th July, and can see no reason why this objective cannot be realised.

We must also mention that we were greatly inspired by the resolve to honour the commitments contained in the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement as represented by the highly successful pledging conference which was held recently in Kuwait and promises to provide considerable resources to develop Eastern Sudan to end its marginalisation.

We are convinced that regardless of the outcome of the South Sudan referendum, you, the Sudanese people face an exciting period which history has given you to make something new of this ancient African country.

I am very pleased that the University of Khartoum, an eminent African centre of learning, has given us the opportunity to speak to the youth of Sudan at this critical moment in the history of this country.

There are a few things we would like you, the youth, to know by the time you leave this Hall at the end of this interaction.
One of these is that current developments in your country, including the South Sudan referendum, present you with the challenge and opportunity to reconstruct Sudan so that it lives up to its historic obligations contained in its ancient history, its traditional role as a welcoming home for all Africans, and its eminent contribution to the struggle to maintain Africa’s independence.

That challenge of reconstruction will fall particularly on your shoulders, because as the youth you represent the future of Sudan.

Secondly, we would like you to know that the future ahead of you is one of hope rather than despair. This country, in both its northern and southern parts, contains enormous agricultural and natural resources which can and must be exploited to provide the Sudanese people the better life which is their due.

It has the possibility relatively quickly to address some of its essential social and economic infrastructure needs, sufficient to accelerate its process of development.

In the context of the development challenge, we are happy to say that Sudan disposes of considerable human capital, the trained and qualified men and women, including yourselves, both here and outside the country, who must serve as the drivers of Sudan’s socio-economic development. Liberated at last from the curse of war and violent conflicts, there is absolutely no reason why Sudan, whether as one country or two, does not advance to take its place as one of the leading economic powers on our Continent.

And thirdly, Sudan, whether as one or two countries, will continue to serve as an African crossroads. Accordingly, willy-nilly, what happens in this part of Africa will continue to have an important impact on the rest of our Continent. The new beginning of which we have spoken means that this area of Africa has the continuing possibility to act as one of the principal drivers of the process of the renaissance of Africa.

You, the Sudanese people have the accumulated experience, the wealth and depth of intellectual prowess, and the invaluable African patriotism, to empower and enable you to live up to this obligation to yourselves and the rest of your fellow Africans.
As Africans we know that the future of Sudan is our future. And as Sudanese, you must know that Africa stands and will stand with you regardless of the political season, and that our solidarity and friendship are unconditional.

As Africans we know that whatever the challenges of the moment, Sudan will achieve peace within itself and friendship among all its people, which peace and friendship will draw the Sudanese people, their neighbours and all Africa, ever closer together.

We, who represent an older generation, which has made its own mistakes and its own contribution to a better Africa, count on you, the youth of Africa, to discover and carry out your own mission, which would surely contain the objective to achieve the renaissance both of Sudan and your mother Continent, Africa.

I thank you very much.

[Text as delivered]
Copy of 3 Responses (so far) to “Sudan in Africa: A Vision for the Future”
Ibrahim Adam:
January 5th, 2011 at 10:46 am
Wow!

A poignant, potent and very moving speech.

The Right Honorable Thabo Mbeki: an African, nay global, colossus.

May God bless you for all of your tireless work thus far to usher in peace, stability, and prosperity for all Sudanese.

A true friend indeed; thanks Thabo.

He truly deserves Sudan’s highest award: President Al-Bashir, I do hope you’re listening!!

Charles:
January 6th, 2011 at 3:31 am
Thabo Mbeki is brilliant!

Khalid AlMubarak:
January 6th, 2011 at 1:31 pm
Wise words from a distinguished African leader. Some footnotes :
!- To say that the Arabs of Sudan and Africa are people of Africa takes the wind off the sails of those who who insist that diversity DOES not include Arabs or Islam.In his most recent book Francis Deng claims any reunification of Sudan(if the South chooses secession)will require the Northern Sudanese to to strip themselves of any Arab adjective.

2-To say that Khartoum and its wider environs control and deny development elsewhere can be misleading. Those in Khartoum and the Centre came from Darfur ,Kordofan,the East and the South. London controls and the cities of the North are decaying. Is this a uniquely Sudanese problem? Is South Africa different?

3- How could the central government develop anything while there is fighting?The two rebellions in the South destroyed a great deal and distorted the economy. I am puzzled by Mr Mbeki’s soft handling of the 1955 relellion and blaming the North for it.How come? Sudan was not independent when the rebellion erupted.

4-”Some in the rest of the world have persisted in communicating false and negative messages” How true;but that is also applicable to anti-sudanese campaigns which were orchestrated to deny that Sudan won independence before Ghana.Many references document Israeli support for the two southern rebellions and the present Darfur crisis.Our problems have local roots ;but there is an unspoken foreign finger.

There is no contradiction between Sudan’s interests and those of the West. But the interests of the West are not identical to those of Israel and its lobbies(witness the West’s position on settlements and a Palestinian state and Lieberman’s position)

5-The Darfur rebellion was instigated by John Garang while he was negotiating with the government for peace in the South.

6- If the South voted for secession ;conditions for reunification a la European Union can be created by strengthening regional groups(Nile Valley- Horn of Africa) leading to African unity in the next stage.Borders and citizenship will evolve in complementary manner.

7- the shortcomings of the Centre are spotlighted. What about the effect of the rebels and what about corruption and mismanagement in the semi-autonomous South?
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Photo of the Day



Sudan’s President Omar Al-Bashir (centre) is escorted by Vice-President Salva Kiir (left) as he arrives at the airport in the southern Sudanese capital of Juba on Tuesday, 04 January 2011. Image Credit: AP.

Image above courtesy of Gulf News.com report by Abdul Nabi Shaheen, Wednesday, 05 January 2011 entitled "South rules out war after separation". Full copy:
(Juba, southern Sudan) - Dr Barnaba Marial Benjamin, minister of information and Broadcasting in the Government of southern Sudan (GoSS), who is also the GoSS spokesman, talked to Gulf News in an exclusive interview. Regarding Darfur, Benjamin said that an independent South Sudan would never allow Darfur rebels to launch attacks on the north from their soil.
Full text of the interview:

In case of the Southern separation, how would you deal with the Darfur dossier?

We in GoSS, whether now or after separation, will never allow Darfur movements to launch any military operations against the North from the South as we believe that the CPA, which we have signed with the NCP in Naivasha is an agreement that can be applied to solve Sudan's political problems, including Darfur's.

What was reported in the media about Darfur's leaders in the South and their intention of launching attacks against the North is incorrect. Khalil Ebrahim and Abdul Wahid Noor, both senior leaders of Darfur's armed movements never visit Southern Sudan. The former is living in Libya and the latter in France. As for the third leader Minni Arcu Minnawi he is in Juba temporarily and not for political purposes.

How do you estimate the volume of aid so far extended to you by the American government?

I think it is significant support through the United States Agency for International Development (Usaid) which is working on basic infrastructure, education and health services as well as a paved road from Juba to borders with Uganda with a cost of $200 million (Dh735 million).

I expect America's aid to reach $1 billion according to the projects they are working on.

What about military assistance?

We received no military assistance from the American government but we receive such assistance from Western countries in areas like developing human capabilities of our armed forces to turn it into a regular, professional army. We have started this since 2005.

Some fear a re-escalation of armed conflict between the North and the South if certain issues are not settled before the referendum. How do you see that?

The two partners have agreed on the "no to war and yes to peace," principle. This is the commitment of President Bashir and President Salva Kiir.

There is an agreement and it stipulates that people of Southern Sudan have the right to self-determination and the choice of either unity or separation. This makes it impossible to resort to war.

What we have been agreed upon is not something made in the presence of delegations from the North and South only, but there have been international organisations involved in this agreement and have significant role in restoring peace; to mention for instance, the UN and its Security Council, the African Union, the Arab League, the US, Britain and neighbouring countries including Egypt and Libya.

It was decided that 12,000 UN peacekeeping forces were to be deployed to maintain peace between the two parties and monitor the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

But there is a mobilisation of Northern and Southern forces on the border between the North and the South which reflect a tense situation?

It is natural to have problems between the two sides. In any area where there are international forces, there would be scrimmages. In case of any problem we consult the agreement. Recently the Sudanese Defence Minister met the leader of liberation army of the South and they have agreed to have police forces to protect oil fields.

How do you evaluate the progress for referendum and relevant arrangements between the two partners so far in this context?
Matters are moving reasonably. Registration of voters, for instance, has been very successful as there is a keenness from the people of the South to take part in the referendum. The number of those registered in the South amounted to 3.5 million.

What about the ratio of this figure from the total population of the South?

The ratio is reasonable putting into account that as those have the right to register should be over 18.

The total population of the South is around 8.5 million, 60 per cent of those registered should vote to make it valid.

This was stipulated by the Referendum Law and we should abide by it to make results valid.

In Khartoum, the number of those registered was not as anticipated due to the fact that Southerners left for Juba to register to guarantee an opportunity to express their opinions Some Southerners in the North said they can't register as they could not come back for voting and as a result many Southerners in the North did not register their names. Others have returned to the South to register and stay.

They returned back because they left as a result of the war and after peace was realised, they returned back to build their society.

Following the 2005 peace agreement, the government in the North and GoSS as well as international organisations should help this group to voluntarily return to their homes in the South as some of them are employees in the central government and are still holding their posts.

There is controversy over dual nationality for Southerners living in the North and Northerners living in the South. What would be your stance in case the government in the North declined to grant Southerners in the North its nationality?

In all cases, we will grant Northerners living in the South the nationality of the new Southern state if they want. (Laughs) Even if President Omar Al Bashir wants the nationality of the new state we will grant it to him.
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Related Reports

President Bashir Visits Juba 4 days Ahead Of The Referendum
Report from SRS - Sudan Radio Service - www.sudanradio.org. Excerpt:
Tuesday, 04 January 2011 – (Juba, southern Sudan) - The president of the republic Omar Al-Bashir officially visited Juba on Tuesday, only four days before the people of southern Sudan could vote in the referendum.

Addressing the Government of Southern Sudan ministers and political leaders, president Al-Bashir said that it is now clear that the south is going to secede during the referendum.

He said this is an indication that the two partners to the CPA, the SPLM and the NCP have been able to implement the CPA to the latter.

[Omar al-Bashir]: “Yes we will be sad the Sudan is going to be divided, however we will be happy by conducting the southern Sudan referendum, and establishing two new countries, which means we have achieved the real and final peace in Sudan, in it’s two parts, so that any citizen in Sudan, in the north and in the south, can enjoy and benefit, and it will be a new stage and breakthrough towards development in the two parts.”

Al-Bashir reiterated that his government will accept and support the south whatever the outcome of the referendum.

[Omar al-Bashir]: “Whatever the results, the painful process and the deep pain will be, we can pass this stage by patience, tolerance and by highly welcoming the referendum result with a good sprit. We see that if the new southern Sudan state emerges, it will be in need of technical support, logistics and number of different supports, no one will be having the priority of doing these except us. So we want all these process to be achieved smoothly.” [...]
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GOSS Welcomes Bashir's Visit To Juba
Report from SRS - Sudan Radio Service - www.sudanradio.org. Full copy:
Tuesday, 04 January 2011 – (Juba, southern Sudan) - The Government of South Sudan on Tuesday welcomed the visit of President Al- Bashir adding that it is a positive gesture towards a peaceful Sudan before and after the referendum.

The president of the Government of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit was addressing the government of southern Sudan ministers and political leaders upon the arrival of President Omar Al-Bashir in Juba.

[Salva Kiir]: “We are very pleased by this visit, people were saying that the president of the republic should not come at this time where southerners are heading towards the referendum after 4 days, but our answer to these people was simple, that even if only one day to go for the referendum, the president of the republic has the right to come to south Sudan, and has the right also to go anywhere in Sudan. Even after the referendum he has the right to go any where in Sudan. So your Excellency you are most welcome.”

The referendum for self determination in the south is due in 4 days.
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Sudan leader Bashir reassures south ahead of referendum
Report from BBC News Africa - www.bbc.co.uk
Tuesday, 04 January 2011. Full copy: [Click here to view video report by the BBC's Will Ross in Juba: "The flags are out on the streets of southern Sudan"]:
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has reassured Southern Sudan he will help it even if it chooses to secede in a referendum on Sunday.

After arriving in the south's capital, Juba, Mr Bashir said that although he would be "sad" if Sudan split, "I am going to celebrate your decision, even if your decision is secession."

Mr Bashir then headed into talks with the south's leader, Salva Kiir.

The referendum is part of a 2005 deal that ended a two-decades-long war.

Mr Bashir and Mr Kiir were on opposing sides.

Officials say almost four million people have registered to vote, more than 95% of them in semi-autonomous Southern Sudan. Others have signed up in northern Sudan and eight countries abroad.

'Anything you need'

BBC East Africa correspondent Will Ross, in Juba, says Mr Bashir's message on Tuesday will go a long way to reassure people that the north of Sudan is finally accepting that Africa's largest country is about to split in two.

Mr Bashir said: "I personally will be sad if Sudan splits. But at the same time I will be happy if we have peace in Sudan between the two sides."

Saying that imposing unity did not work, he added: "Anything you need in terms of technical, logistical or professional support from Khartoum, you will find us ready to give it. The benefit we get from unity, we can also get it from two separate states."

Our correspondent says that for years Mr Bashir was seen as an enemy in the south but his message on Tuesday, a message of peace, may help to improve his tarnished image.

Mr Bashir, wearing a traditional southern robe over his suit, was met by about 500 people at the airport in Juba demonstrating in favour of secession, but in a festive atmosphere.

He and Mr Kiir then went into talks that were to focus on weighty issues such as border delineation, citizenship and division of oil wealth.

Sudan is the third-largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa.

'100% prepared'

Southern Sudan has been marginalised by a succession of governments in Khartoum, from colonial times onwards.

The north and south are also divided by culture, religion, ethnicity and a history of conflict, correspondents say.

On Monday, a spokesman for the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission (SSRC), Chan Reec Madut, said it was "100% prepared" for the vote.

Some training still needed to be carried out and there were still problems with access to polling stations in remote areas, he said. But he insisted that those would not affect the vote.

There had been concerns that Sudan's poor infrastructure and political instability might delay the referendum, risking an outbreak of violence.

For the vote to be considered valid, 60% of voters must take part.

A spokesman for the US state department, PJ Crowley, said it was optimistic about Sunday's referendum, and that both sides appeared to agree that it should be an open and credible process.

Analysis
Peter Martell

BBC News, Juba, sourthern Sudan

President Bashir often dances a jig in front of crowds, waving his trademark stick. Not this time, here in the southern capital. He appeared sad, without hand waving or smiles, and did not turn up to the rally many southerners had been expecting.

Clearly aware of the likelihood of a split between north and south, he instead repeated his promise that he would be the first to recognise an independent south. The hundreds of southerners who lined the road to welcome him did so cheerfully, but made extremely clear their choice in the referendum - separation.

One sign at the airport even greeted him with the pre-emptive message: "Welcome to the 193rd state". Standing alongside southern president Salva Kiir, the message was of peace, whatever the people decide. The people on the streets took that message warmly, saying only they wanted to make sure he will be kept to his word.
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In pictures: Bashir visits south



Ahead of the poll, the Sudanese president made a rare visit to the southern capital, Juba. Though his government favours unity, Omar al-Bashir (r) said he would "celebrate" whatever decision the Southerners voted for, even if they decide to secede. Photo and caption courtesy of BBC News Africa - www.bbc.co.uk - Tuesday, 04 January 2011: In pictures: Bashir visits south.
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Further Reading

Sudan: Arab or African? (The Debate Continues)
Sudan Watch - http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com
Sunday, 05 December 2010
See copy of 181 comments.
- - -

Postscript from Sudan Watch Editor
As noted here at Sudan Watch on Friday, 31 December 2010, Yahoo's Flickr deleted all photos documented at Sudan Watch August 2004 - November 2010. Thankfully, in June of last year, the British Library started digitally archiving Sudan Watch and my personal blog, ME and Ophelia. Here are the links to the great British Library's web archive where the missing photos can be found.
http://www.webarchive.org.uk - sudanwatch.blogspot.com
http://www.webarchive.org.uk - meandophelia.blogspot.com

Also, note that The New York Times Blogrunner is up and running again:

Headlines Around the Web

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JANUARY 6, 2011

Christians pray for just peace ahead of Sudan's referendum

THE DAILY CALLER

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THE AMERICAN PROSPECT

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Stopping a Genocide Before It Starts

A BLOG FOR ALL

JANUARY 6, 2011

Sudan Prepares For Split Referendum

More at Blogrunner »

Friday, December 31, 2010

Sudanese leaders, north and south, will determine whether their people enjoy a happy and peaceful New Year

Quote of the Day
"War is often said to be the failure of diplomacy. But diplomats can only do so much. In the end it will be Sudanese leaders, north and south, who determine whether their people enjoy a happy and peaceful New Year." -Nicholas Kay, British Ambassador to Sudan, 29 December 2010, Khartoum. (Source: See full report below)
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Photo of the Day



Historic photograph taken in 2005: 'The referendum plans came after southern and northern Sudan leaders signed a peace accord in Kenya in 2005 [EPA]' (Credit: Photo and caption from Al Jazeera.net report, 01 January 2011, entitled Sudan president seeks to calm fears)
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Sudan Watch News Roundup

The Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) has lauded a statement by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir that his government (GOS) will be the first to recognise and support southern Sudan’s independence, should southerners vote for secession. [1]

The ministry of internal affairs in the GOSS has reiterated that the south Sudan referendum will take place peacefully and as scheduled for Sunday, 9th January 2011. [2]

Silva Kiir, president of GOSS, said at a meeting with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa that an independent state in southern Sudan, if and when it is established, will not have relations with Israel. [3]

President Bashir said today (Friday, Dec. 31) that the door to peace in Darfur remains open and called on Darfuris to put out the fire of war, just a day after Khartoum withdrew from peace talks. [4]

Members of the Darfur mediation team, including the United Nations, the African Union and Qatar, today (Friday, Dec. 31) stated their continued commitment to negotiations aimed at achieving peace in the strife-torn Sudanese region. [5]

The Qatari Minister of State for Foreign Affairs H E Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Mahmoud said that the Darfur peace negotiations are continuing in Doha and that all parties concerned with peace are committed to Doha platform until a just and comprehensive peace that all of the people of Darfur and the Sudanese people are seeking is reached. Addressing a press conference today (Friday, Dec. 31) at Doha Sheraton Hotel jointly with UN/AU Joint Mediator for Darfur Djbrill Bassole, Al Mahmoud said that the mediation will hold two meetings in Doha on Thursday the 6th of January 2011. One of them will be for the joint Arab-African ministerial committee on Darfur, while the other will be for special envoys of the Permanent Security Council Member States and the European Union. [6]

Speaking to SRS from Doha today (Friday, Dec. 31), the chief negotiator for the Darfur anti government group, the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM), Tajalden Bashir Niam explained the contentious issues between the two parties: “The only contradicting position on this is the amount of money to be deposited for compensation. LJM is saying we need 500 million dollars while the government is saying 200 million dollars. So the difference is not that much, it can be compromised. There are huge differences on the status of the region of Darfur, we want to retain the three states but also we want to have a region of Darfur. Another issue of disagreement according to Niam is the distribution of power." [7]

The chairman of the High Electoral Commission in Southern Kordofan State, Abdul Jabbar Ibrahim, has confirmed that preparations for voter registration are complete. The process will begin on Saturday, 8th January 2011. [8]

Forces loyal to the renegade Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) general George Athor are in talks with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) ahead of the referendum in January in an attempt to ensure security prevails during the exercise. General Athor threatened to disrupt the referendum process in the south in August if the SPLM failed to talk peace with him. However in an interview with SRS from Jonglei today (Friday, Dec. 31) the political organiser in the SPLA new forces led by the general George Athor, Peter Koul said that their delegation is meeting SPLA and may sign a ceasefire soon. [9]

The National Congress Party (NCP) said that it has received information showing a plan by the SPLM to take unilateral actions on Abyei. An NCP member in charge of the Abyei file, Al-Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed, said that the Public International Law & Policy Group or PILPG advised the SPLM that a unilateral referendum within a united Sudan would be considered an internal self-determination which does not require an approval from the federal government or the NCP. [10]

SPLM is seeking to impose a unilateral plan on Abyei area with assistance of U.S. law firm, Ambassador Al-Derridiri told Sudan Vision. Al-Derridiri who is official in charge of Abyei file disclosed that SPLM plans to hold a unilateral referendum exclusively for Dinks Ngok south Bahr Al-Arab and that said referendum should be conducted prior to South Sudan referendum adding that a U.S. law firm advised SPLM that such a referendum could be considered an internal one or may be considered as conducting internal self-determination which doesn't need approval of the central government. [11]

The Assistant of the President of the Republic, Dr Nafie Ali Nafie said that the United Nations missions have major role in instigating disputes in Sudan. Dr Nafie gave the remark Wednesday (Dec. 29) in a symposium on the occasion of 55th anniversary of the Independence Day and the marking of 2010 as year of peace and stability in Africa. He attributed the African disputes to tribal intermingling as manifested in Darfur crisis, saying the Western military bases have supporting role in fuelling the dispute. Dr Nafie has pointed to Israel's hand in dispute over resources especially water. [12]

See photo below of Eamon Omordha, Deputy Director of the UN Integrated Referendum and Electoral Division, handing over a referendum ballot to Justice Chan Reec Madut, Chairman of the Southern Sudan Referendum Bureau, during a material handover ceremony in Juba Thursday, 23 December 2010. [13]

Reporting from Khartoum, Britain's Ambassador to Sudan Nicholas Kay confirms: the ballot papers have arrived on time (printed by a UK company) and most of the European Union's 110 observers have arrived, as are others from the US, Asia and Africa. UK Ministers have been busy working the phones to Sudanese colleagues and others: urging calm, underlining the UK’s commitment to both north and south Sudan and trouble-shooting potential security and humanitarian risks. Just before Christmas Ambassador Kay was in London for a few days and had the honour of an audience with Her Majesty the Queen who is following with care this current chapter in Sudan’s history. On Sunday (December 26th) he had an excellent meeting with Foreign Minister, Ali Karti. The following day he was in the Ministry again with colleagues representing the five permanent members of the Security Council for another meeting on the referendum. [14]

SOURCES: See 14 reports below.

[1] GOSS Lauds Bashir's Statement That He Will Recognise And Support South In Case Of Secession
Source: SRS - Sudan Radio Service - www.sudanradio.org
Date: Friday, 31 December 2010. Full copy:
30 December 2010 – (Juba) - The Government of Southern Sudan has lauded a statement by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir that his government will be the first to recognize and support southern Sudan’s independence, should southerners vote for secession.

Al-Bashir made that statement on Tuesday, while addressing a gathering on Martyrs’ day in Wad-Madani.

GOSS Minister of information Doctor Barnaba Marial Benjamin addressed a press conference in Juba on Wednesday.

[Barnaba Marial Benjamin]: “We appreciate the statement of our president Omar al-Bashir, that he will be the first to recognize southern Sudan independence, should the choice of the south become independence. And that he will even come and celebrate with the people of south Sudan for their choice. I think we on our part as GOSS, we are greatly pleased with such a great statement. We believe this is putting on the ground a future and sort of stability between the two states.”

Marial said that the president’s statement will create conducive environment for the conduct of the south Sudan self-determination referendum in January.

[Barnaba Marial Benjamin]: “This creates actually a peaceful atmosphere between the two partners towards seeing that the referendum should be free, fair, transparent and voluntary. I think this is creating an environment of confidence of peace, when the president of the republic goes out and speak to his constituency frankly, openly and courageously, that the time has come where the people of the Sudan both north and south, should accept the democratic choice of the people of southern Sudan.”

Marial, said GOSS hopes the new spirit that al-Bashir has shown would continue to enable the two partners solve crucial outstanding issues in the CPA, such as the issue of Abyei.
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[2] GOSS Interior Minister Assures Referendum Will Be Peaceful
Source: SRS - Sudan Radio Service - www.sudanradio.org
Date: Thursday, 30 December 2010. Full copy:
30 December 2010 - (Juba, S. Sudan) - The ministry of internal affairs in the Government of Southern Sudan has reiterated that the south Sudan referendum will take place peacefully and as scheduled for 9th January.

Addressing a press conference in Juba on Wednesday, the GOSS Minister of Internal Affairs Gier Chuang strongly stated that, despite provocations by some elements, his ministry has taken measures to ensure that the referendum takes place peacefully.

[Gier Chuang]: “Some people have the intention of provoking the south, but I want to assure you that the entire leadership of the south has decided to say, whatever number of people that we lose or who are going to be injured this time around, we will keep quiet until the 9th of January. We will not allow ourselves to be dragged into something we have not planned. So in conclusion, I would want to say that the referendum will take place on time, and it is going to be peaceful. However, should anybody try to obstruct the conduct of the referendum then the south will be there to respond.”

Chuang also expressed confidence that the conduct of the referendum will not be as complicated as that of the elections saying that there are only two choices to the referendum.

[Gier Chuang]: “The conduct of referendum to me is not going to be more difficult than the elections. The election was the most difficult exercise because there were a number of competitions going on between individuals, criticism, abuses, to some extent. But now we have only two scenarios, of unity and separation. Our people in this part of the world know very well where they are heading. They know what they are going to do on the 9th of January. So I don’t think that there is going to be a major problem.”

That was the GOSS Minister of Internal Affairs, Gier Chuang, speaking to the press in Juba on Wednesday.
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[3] South Sudan: Our State Won't Have Relations With Israel
Source: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London / Reprinted at www.thememriblog.org
Date: Thursday, 30 December 2010. Full copy:
Silva Kiir, president of the South Sudan autonomous government, said at a meeting with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa that an independent state in southern Sudan, if and when it is established, will not have relations with Israel.

Kiir expressed his desire to establish good neighborly relations with Sudan and with the other Arab countries, and asked that Moussa and the Arab Leage set up a representation in the future state.
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[4] Bashir says door open to peace in Darfur
Source: AFP – www.google.com
Date: Friday, 31 December 2010. Full copy:
(Khartoum, Sudan) - Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said on Friday that the door to peace in Darfur remains open and called on Darfuris to put out the fire of war, just a day after Khartoum withdrew from peace talks.

"Our door remains wide open to all honest people who want peace and are committed to working within the framework of the constitutional order," Bashir said in a speech at the presidential palace to mark the 55th anniversary of Sudanese independence.

"In the hands of the people of Darfur today is a rare opportunity to extinguish the fire of war, and they are tending towards the choice of recovery and reconciliation," he added, calling for dialogue with "all segments of society in Darfur."

Speaking in the South Darfur capital Nyala earlier in the week, Bashir had said Sudan would withdraw from peace talks in the Qatari capital Doha and organise its own negotiations in Darfur itself if no accord with the rebels were reached by Thursday.

The Sudanese government's special adviser on Darfur, Ghazi Salaheddin, duly announced on Thursday the departure of the negotiating team, but insisted this did not mean Khartoum was closing the door on peace talks.

"The delegation will leave because it has nothing to do, but that does not mean we withdrew from the peace process, and the mediators have promised us a document" on a draft agreement for Darfur, Salaheddin told reporters.

Darfur has been gripped by a civil war since 2003 that has killed 300,000 people and displaced another 2.7 million, according to UN figures. Khartoum says 10,000 people have died in the conflict.

The Khartoum government has for months been trying to secure a comprehensive peace agreement with all Darfur rebel groups, to no avail.

In his speech on Friday, Bashir also outlined his economic priorities which included the "availability" of basic food products and the "stabilisation" of the Sudanese pound, whose value has been knocked by uncertainty over a January 9 referendum on independence for the south.

The breakaway of the south, where around three-quarters of Sudan's oil reserves lie, "could signify a reduction in oil revenues" for the Khartoum government, the Sudanese president admitted.

North and south have been seeking to agree an formula to share Sudan's oil wealth that would guarantee economic stability in the event that the south chooses to secede, as is widely expected.

Haile Menkerios, the head of the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNAMIS), which oversees implementation of the 2005 peace accord that put an end to the civil war, said on Friday that this year had seen "a few regrettable incidents" related to legitimate apprehensions "and a degree of continuing mistrust."

"At no point, however, did these tensions escalate or threaten the peace process," he added.
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[5] Darfur mediation team voices commitment to peace negotiations
Source: UN News Centre - www.un.org
Date: Friday, 31 December 2010. Full copy:
Members of the Darfur mediation team, including the United Nations, the African Union and Qatar, today stated their continued commitment to negotiations aimed at achieving peace in the strife-torn Sudanese region.

In September a committee involving members of the mediation team produced a preliminary draft peace document aimed at ending the bloody conflict in Darfur in which some 300,000 have been killed and 2.7 million other driven from their homes in the past seven years.

In a statement issued today in the Qatari capital, Doha, where talks have been continuing, the team called on all parties to continue to cooperate towards finalizing the peace document.

“The Mediation remains committed to the continuation of all tracks with the aim of achieving the desired goal of producing a peace document that will be the basis for finding a just and comprehensive solution for the conflict in Darfur very soon,” it stated.

The team urged all parties to cease hostilities that have erupted recently in Darfur in order to spare citizens displacement and suffering and create a favourable atmosphere for the Mediation to finalize the peace process as planned.

It plans to convene a meeting for the Joint Afro-Arab Inter-Ministerial Committee for Darfur and another meeting, in the first week of January, for the Special Envoys to the Sudan of the Security Council’s permanent members and the European Union.

In addition, it will hold consultations with the neighbouring States and other effective regional forces.

Once the peace document is completed, the team intends to present it to all stakeholders in a “broad” conference to be held in Doha.
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[6] Darfur peace negotiations to continue in Doha: Minister
Source: Peninsula News Paper - www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
Date: Saturday, 01 January 2011. Full copy:
Doha: The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs H E Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Mahmoud said that the Darfur peace negotiations is continuing in Doha and that all parties concerned with peace are committed to Doha platform until a just and comprehensive peace that all of the people of Darfur and the Sudanese people are seeking is reached.

Addressing a press conference last evening at Doha Sheraton Hotel jointly with UN/AU Joint Mediator for Darfur Djbrill Bassole, Al Mahmoud said that the mediation will hold two meeting in Doha on January 6.

One of them will be for the joint Arab-African ministerial committee on Darfur, while the other will be for special envoys of the Permanent Security Council Member States and the European Union. He also explained that the mediation through the Darfur peace process in Doha has been following two tracks in its policy to end the conflict.

One of them is negotiations, while the second is consultations, Al Mahmoud said.

The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs added that the mediation has two principles, namely achieving a comprehensive peace backed by people concerned and a vision for a lasting peaceful resolution in Darfur.

Al Mahmoud stressed that the Sudanese government was committed to negotiations, adding that “they (the Sudanese government) have officially informed us that they back this platform”.

He pointed out that the return of the government delegation to Sudan does not mean putting an end to the peace process and talks in Doha, adding “We have agreed with the government side to remain in touch, and they are ready to return to the peace process when it is required.”
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[7] Issues Of Contention Between Government And Darfur Antigovernment Groups In Doha
Source: SRS - Sudan Radio Service - www.sudanradio.org
Date: Friday, 31 December 2010. Full copy:
31 December 2010 – (Doha) - Speaking to SRS from Doha on Friday, the chief negotiator for the Darfur anti government group, the Liberation and Justice Movement, Tajalden Bashir Niam explained the contentious issues between the two parties.

[Tajalden Bashir Niam]: “The only contradicting position on this is the amount of money to be deposited for compensation. LJM is saying we need 500 million dollars while the government is saying 200 million dollars. So the difference is not that much, it can be compromised. There are huge differences on the status of the region of Darfur, we want to retain the three states but also we want to have a region of Darfur. Darfur has been an independent state. Now the present regime has divided Darfur into three states. The purpose of diving it actually is the implementation of the policy of divide and rule. We want to retain Darfur as one united region with the three states but any contact between the states and the central government should be done through the regional government, the government has rejected this proposal or this demand for the people of Darfur.”

Another issue of disagreement according to Niam is the distribution of power.

[Tajalden Bashir Niam]: The Darfur constitute 20 percent of Sudanese populations, they are hence saying we don’t want to provide any position for the people of Darfur in the presidency. So we strongly believe that this is injustice which has made the south to call for self determination.”

According to Niam, the government delegation will be back in Doha after 5 days.

He said he is optimistic that there are high chances that the two parties can reach an agreement and end the suffering of the people of Darfur.
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[8] Southern Kordofan State ready for voter registration : HEC
Source: Radio Miraya FM - www.mirayafm.org
Date: Friday, 31 December 2010, 10:05. Full copy:
The chairman of the High Electoral Commission in Southern Kordofan State, Abdul Jabbar Ibrahim, has confirmed that preparations for voter registration are complete. The process will begin on the eight of January. Southern Kordofan will be holding gubernatorial and legislative assembly elections. The polls in Southern Kordofan were postponed last year following disputed census results.

Meanwhile, the head of the joint DDR commission in Southern Kordofan, Ali Dafallah, said the counting of disarmed Sudan People's Liberation Army soldiers in Jullud and Kauda is over.

The first phase of demobilization of SPLA and Sudan Armed Forces and the Popular Defense Forces has ended in Jullud and Kadugli.

The process in Kauda has ended the second phase.

Listen to Abdul Jabbar Ibrahim [by clicking into the original report]
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[9] Athor's Forces Say They Will Not Disrupt Conduct Of The Referendum
Source: SRS - Sudan Radio Service - www.sudanradio.org
Date: Friday, 31 December 2010. Full copy:
31 December 2010 – (Juba) - Forces loyal to the renegade SPLA general George Athor are in talks with the SPLM ahead of the referendum in January in an attempt to ensure security prevails during the exercise.

General Athor threatened to disrupt the referendum process in the south in August if the SPLM failed to talk peace with him.
However in an interview with SRS from Jonglei on Friday, the political organizer in the SPLA new forces led by the general George Athor, Peter Koul said that their delegation is meeting SPLA and may sign a ceasefire soon.

[Peter Koul]: “Our military delegation has gone to Malakal to discuss some of the things concerning the military activities.
Yesterday, in Juba, our delegation reached an agreement with the SPLA delegation on where we can all assemble. They also agreed that they will all go to Juba for the declaration of the ceasefire. If this is achieved, then we will have a breakthrough.”
Kuol further assured southerners of security during the referendum saying they will not disrupt the conduct of the referendum. He cited political differences as the only main problem between the renegade group and the SPLM.

[Peter Koul]: “My message to the people of southern Sudan and particularly the people of Jonglei is that I wish them a happy new year and that they should go for the referendum peacefully. They should know that we are nationalists and we are not here to discuss or undermine the rights of the people of the south, so they should not worry. If they keep in mind that we all have one objective, then nothing should disturb them. They should be happy and vote rightly. We are not all enemies to ourselves so much; the only thing is that we have political differences which I hope we will achieve a consensus on because the most important thing is the objective of southerners.”

In October 2010, GOSS President Salva Kiir issued a decree pardoning Gen. Athor, Gen. Gabriel Tanginye and others who rebelled against his government to rejoin after disarming their forces. Athor has however maintained his position saying his demands have not been met.
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[10] People Of Abyei Are Contemplating On Their Future, Says SPLM Official
Source: SRS - Sudan Radio Service - www.sudanradio.org
Date: Friday, 31 December 2010. Full copy:
31 December 2010 – (Abyei) - The National Congress Party said that it has received information showing a plan by the Sudan People Liberation Movement to take unilateral actions on Abyei.

An NCP member in charge of the Abyei file, Al-Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed, said that the Public International Law & Policy Group or PILPG advised the SPLM that a unilateral referendum within a united Sudan would be considered an internal self-determination which does not require an approval from the federal government or the NCP.

However, the SPLM secretary in Abyei, Chol Changath told SRS on Friday from Abyei that it is the Abyei people through the civil organizations who are contemplating on a possible opinion for an internal self determination.

[Chol Changath]: “The SPLM and the NCP are still hanging on the issue of Abyei to negotiate. What I would like to say here is, it is not the SPLM it is the people of Abyei who are organizing themselves I would say by civil societies, traditional leaders and Ngok Dinka civil society are the ones thinking to organize something like that. Already there is no referendum for Abyei, and if there is no referendum in Abyei then they would like to express themselves about their status. The status of Abyei being in the north is what is making the NCP accuse the SPLM and accuse the leadership of the SPLM that they want to organize the Dinka Ngok to make an internal self determination. However it is the people themselves making it.”

Changath added that regardless of the decision of the people of Abyei the federal government will not accept any resolution the Ngok Dinka will come up with.

[Chol Changath]: “As there is no referendum, however there must be a kind of way of a political solution for that. But I don’t think Khartoum will accept anything where the Dinka Ngok will say they will rather secede, because they will not be happy about that. And even if the SPLM says, can you allow the people to exercise what they would like to do, Khartoum will never accept that. But what I would like to say is that when you want to exercise your right you do not need any request from anyone, you do it according to how you want to do it.”

In accordance with the 2005 peace accord, the population of Abyei is to decide on whether they want to be part of the north or join a possible new country in the south. This vote which will not take place was supposed to happen simultaneously with the south Sudan referendum.
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[11] Government Warns SPLM Against Adopting Unilateral Plans on Abyei
Source: Sudan Vision Daily by Al-Sammani Awadallah - www.sudanvisiondaily.com
Date: Thursday, 30 December 2010. Full copy:
(Khartoum) - SPLM is seeking to impose a unilateral plan on Abyei area with assistance of U.S. law firm, Ambassador Al-Derridiri told Sudan Vision.

Al-Derridiri who is official in charge of Abyei file disclosed that SPLM plans to hold a unilateral referendum exclusively for Dinks Ngok south Bahr Al-Arab and that said referendum should be conducted prior to South Sudan referendum adding that a U.S. law firm advised SPLM that such a referendum could be considered an internal one or may be considered as conducting internal self-determination which doesn't need approval of the central government.

Al-Derridiri pointed out that the objective is to include Abyei area within south Sudan referendum of January, 9. he further warned SPLM from adopting such a plan describing it as a step in undermining the whole referendum thus obstructing as it scheduled, explaining that self-determination referendum according to CPA should be conducted with regard to 1956-borders.

He regretted SPLM plans to involve Abyei area and that the movement should be held responsible of any consequences of the referendum delay.

Al-Derridiri said that SPLM in particular and South Sudan in general to be aware of the negative consequences of this plan if it will be adopted by SPLM on the name of Dinka Ngok describing it as risky and calling for direct negotiation between the two parties instead of adopting unilateral positions.
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[12] Dr. Nafie: UN missions behind disputes in Sudan
Source: SUNA - www.sunanews.net
Date: Wednesday, 29 December 2010. Full copy:
Khartoum, Dec 29 (SUNA)- The Assistant of the President of the Republic, Dr Nafie Ali Nafie said that the United Nations missions have major role in instigating disputes in Sudan.

Dr Nafie gave the remark Wednesday in a symposium on the occasion of 55th anniversary of the Independence Day and the marking of 2010 as year of peace and stability in Africa.

He attributed the African disputes to tribal intermingling as manifested in Darfur crisis, saying the Western military bases have supporting role in fuelling the dispute. Dr Nafie has pointed to Israel's hand in dispute over resources especially water.

Dr Nafie underscored the importance of combating the tribal fanaticism and that negotiations over Darfur should not remain open forever. He said that there is misconception about power sharing, saying the call for power sharing comes from individuals rather institutions.

Dr Nafie has called for reshaping the world bodies which he said maintain the hegemony of the Western countries through the veto.

On the suitable rule in Sudan, Dr Nafie said that the federal government system guarantees wider participation of the people in power. AH/MO
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[13] Referendum material handover ceremony in Juba 23 Dec. 2010



Photo by The Associated Press: Eamon Omordha, right, Deputy Director of the UN Integrated Referendum and Electoral Division, hands over a referendum ballot to Justice Chan Reec Madut, left, Chairman of the Southern Sudan Referendum Bureau, during a material handover ceremony in Juba Thursday, 23 December 2010. (Credit: VOA News report by Ashenafi Abedje, Friday, 31 December 2010, Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Excerpt:
Reports out of the southern capital of Juba suggest ballots for the upcoming referendum have yet to be printed. Many question why it’s taking so long to have the documents issued. But southern Sudan’s chief representative in the U.S., Ezekiel Gatkuoth downplays its significance. He says there could be delays here and their but that wiil not affect the referendum date.
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[14] New Year, New Sudan?



Source: UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) - www.blogs.fco.gov.uk
Author: Nicholas Kay, Her Majesty's Ambassador to Sudan
Date: Wednesday, 29 December 2010 (Khartoum, Sudan). Full copy:
Thank goodness the blistering heat has gone. Khartoum is blessed now with gentle, sunny days. The Nile flows slowly. Living and above all thinking is easier. Just as well really. There is plenty to contemplate as 2011 starts. And a great need for cool heads.

The referendum to decide on Sudan’s future rushes nearer. The ballot papers have arrived on time (printed by a UK company). Most of the EU’s 110 observers are now here, as are others from the US, Asia and Africa. The world’s media circus will grow over the coming days. UK Ministers have been busy working the phones to Sudanese colleagues and others: urging calm, underlining the UK’s commitment to both north and south Sudan and trouble-shooting potential security and humanitarian risks.

Sudan is on people’s minds. Just before Christmas I was in London for a few days and had the honour of an audience with Her Majesty the Queen. She was last here in 1965, but is following with care this current chapter in Sudan’s history. As is the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, who was keen to hear what more can be done to help the Sudanese – north and south - over the coming months. It was our second meeting since he took office in May. He stressed again how he reads all our official cables and how committed he is to supporting the Embassy team’s efforts.

I shan’t mention the four day nightmare journey to get back to Khartoum from a snowbound Britain. Nor the need to move house on Christmas Eve (quite another story). It was all good in the end and we had a great Christmas with our three children. The first time all five of us have managed to be together in Sudan. A few precious days in which to catch breath and recharge batteries for the days ahead.

But nothing has really stopped in Sudan for the festive period. The political rhetoric ebbs and flows. The police clashed with a small demonstration on Christmas Eve. And in Darfur, fighting has once again flared up in a number of places. On Boxing Day I had an excellent meeting with Foreign Minister, Ali Karti. The following day I was in the Ministry again with colleagues representing the five permanent members of the Security Council for another meeting on the referendum. No diplomat is in Sudan in search of a quiet life. We are here because there is a job of work to be done. In 2011 we shall be doing our best to help Sudan in what seems ever likelier to be a new beginning as two separate, peaceful and progressive states. War is often said to be the failure of diplomacy. But diplomats can only do so much. In the end it will be Sudanese leaders, north and south, who determine whether their people enjoy a happy and peaceful New Year.
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Postscript from Sudan Watch editor

"The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has a lengthy history. By my reckoning, it’s about 5 years younger than the United States" ... Read more by Jimmy Leach at www.blogs.fco.gov.uk 01 December 2010: Google and the digitisation of the Foreign Office.
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Thought for the Day



Note to self as a reminder of Google's motto "Don't Be evil" - and Silicon Valley Watcher article 01 April 2009 entitled Google Quietly Drops Its 'Don't Be Evil' Motto - SVW.

Here is an extract from another article by Tom Foremski, published at www.zdnet.com 11 June 2008 entitled GOOG CEO says "Don't Be evil" is misunderstood:
This is interesting. Take a look at this story in which Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, says the company’s mantra of “Don’t be evil” is often misunderstood.

Reuters’ Eric Auchard: Google CEO talks of good, evil and monopoly fears
In an on-stage interview with writer Ken Auletta of the New Yorker magazine, Schmidt said “Don’t be evil” is meant to provoke internal debate over what constitutes ethical corporate behavior, rather than representing an absolute moral position.

“We don’t have an ‘Evilmeter’ we can sort of apply — you know — what is good and what is evil,” Schmidt said. . .
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HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year dear Sudan Watch readers and thanks to Google's Blogger and Picasa and to the great British Library web archive. Thumbs down to Yahoo's Flickr for deactivating my Flickr Pro Account and robbing me of 3,000+ photos and six years of work. More on this at a later date when I am feeling less upset by the deletion of all photos from my blogs and Flickr denying me access to my longstanding Flickr account and photostream, not to mention scores of maps painstakingly documented for future reference.

Enemies of this blog (of which there are many) will be pleased by the disappearance of all photos documented at Sudan Watch, and its sideblogs Uganda Watch and Congo Watch, in particular. I hope to be able to get to the bottom of how and why this sudden censorship occurred 27-28 November 2010 during the run up to the most important time in Sudan's history.

Over the past few weeks it has taken me quite a few hours to republish photos (and their credits) on the home page of Sudan Watch and its sidebar. If at all possible, it'd take me 10 hours every day for the next 6-12 months to republish all of the missing photos at Sudan Watch. Not to mention piecing together credits, sources, photographers names, etc., filed behind each of the photos I uploaded at Flickr over the past six years. All lost, including all of the photos at my other Sudan related blogs. Soul destroying and very sad. In my eyes, Flickr has done evil. Right now I am exhausted and having difficulty stringing words and sentences together to write this post. It has taken me two days to put together. Please forgive me if I owe you an email or not sent you a Christmas card as promised.

Further Reading

From The New York Times

Headlines Around the Web

What's This?
SUDAN WATCH

DECEMBER 4, 2010

Sudan: Arab or African? (The

Debate Continues)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DECEMBER 4, 2010

South Sudan Official: No Delay to

Jan Freedom Vote

INSIDE DATELINE

DECEMBER 3, 2010

Take action on Sudan now...

ECORAZZI.COM :: CELEBRITIES CAUGHT GREEN-HANDED

DECEMBER 3, 2010

George Clooney Sudan Special

Particularly 'Revealing' Warns Ann

Curry

SPERO NEWS - RELIGIOUS NEWS

DECEMBER 2, 2010

Sudan: Signs of hope and wonder

More at Blogrunner »

Note that the New York Times' excellent Blogrunner came to an unusual standstill fifteen days ago. What's going on?