BRIEFING FROM THE SPLM-N ON THE PEACE TALKS PROCESS BETWEEN THE SPLM-N & THE SUDAN GOVERNMENT FOR THE AFRICAN UNION PEACE & SECURITY COUNCIL
10TH OF MARCH 2014
What is the Problem of Sudan
The problem of Sudan is the mismanagement of its diversity. Since the independence of Sudan in 1956, the successive regimes in Khartoum have based the national project on limited parameters that are Islam and Arabism, excluding other components of the Sudanese realities. They monopolized the political and economic power in the centre that led to the marginalization of a wider group of the society. This situation became worse when General Bashir took power in 1989, using political Islam and Jihad slogans against its own people which led to the secession of South Sudan and spread the war to other marginalized areas.
The Two Areas
The two areas were part of the CPA. The government from the beginning, during negotiations of the CPA, was reluctant to include them as part of the agreement. In the phase of implementation, GOS posed many obstacles on the implementation of popular consultations and the security arrangements. For them to monopolize power in the North, they preferred the secession of the South than the democratic transformation of the centre. After the secession of the South, they started intimidating the SPLM-N, threatening to ban the organization and eventually they sent a letter from the army headquarters for the SPLA to disarm within 7 days from the 23rd of May to the 31st of May 2011. When they started implementing the disarmament program, it led to the eruption of the war in the Nuba Mountains on the 5th of June 2011.
The disarmament decision by the government in Khartoum was contrary to the matrix of the CPA, which gave the two parties one more year to resolve their differences.
Assisted by the AUHIP under President Thabo Mbeki and the late Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, the two parties reached the Addis Ababa Framework Agreement on the 28th of June 2011, which was disowned by General Bashir, who continued the war in Blue Nile and removed the elected governor of Blue Nile state, who is as well the Chairperson of the SPLM-N, despite the tireless efforts exerted by the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and the AUHIP.
The war resulted in a humanitarian crisis in the two areas for refugees and IDPs despite various attempts to open access. For the last three years, GOS has denied humanitarian access to the two areas, and denying humanitarian access is a war crime in the international humanitarian law. In implementing the subsequent resolutions of the AU and UNSC Resolution 2046, the SPLM-N signed two memorandum of understanding with the Tripartite Group on the 18th of February 2011 and the 4th of August 2011. Both were not implemented as a result of Khartoum’s decision to continue denying humanitarian access, using food as a weapon, and continuing aerial bombardment against the civilian population, which resulted in killing and inflicting injuries among the civilian population including 15 civilians who were killed during the last round of negotiations during the last week of February. As well, there are more than 200,000 who have become refugees in the Republic of South Sudan and around 50,000 refugees in Ethiopia plus more than 700,000 are internally displaced in the Two Areas.
What is the Problem of the Two Areas
The problem of the Two Areas is the SUDAN problem in the Two Areas. It is emanating from the wrong polices of the centre and it can only be resolved by addressing its particularities within a national framework. That is exactly what has been spelled out in the Addis Ababa Framework Agreement of 28 June 2011, which Khartoum is adamantly trying to avoid despite the resolutions of the AU and UNSC Resolution 2046, calling the two parties to base their negotiations on the Framework Agreement.
Khartoum government is for a piecemeal solution that will isolate the problem of the periphery from the transformation of the centre. That is impossible, and as we are talking now, last week Khartoum militias burned down thirty five villages in Darfur, raping women, and forcing around 40,000 to flee their villages. This is not my report but it is from a UNAMID report.
The Way Forward
1) We are asking your august Council to reaffirm the previous resolutions of the Peace and Security Council on the SPLM-N and the Two Areas as well as UNSC Resolution 2046 and the 28 June 2011 Framework Agreement.
2) We are asking the Council to mandate the AUHIP, Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the Representative of the UN Secretary General in Sudan, the Representative of the Chair of IGAD, and the Ethiopian Prime Minister to work as an independent body to facilitate for all Sudanese forces and civil society, including the ruling party, to hold a national constitutional conference to address how Sudan is going to be governed with a clear roadmap and agreeable procedures in a conducive atmosphere and with confidence building measures agreed to by the stakeholders.
Ending Wars in Sudan
Ending wars in Sudan is key to any political reforms and stability. The SPLM-N is ready for an immediate humanitarian cessation of hostilities, to participate in the national constitutional conference as well as to address the particularities of the Two Areas including the security arrangements.