October 10, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese officials rejected the deployment of United Nations peacekeepers on the border between the northern and southern Sudan saying such request is unacceptable and contrary to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
Bangladeshi troops of the United Nations Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS) contingent arriving in Juba, Sudan, March 18, 2006 (photo UN)
The First Vice President and head of southern Sudan government last Wednesday asked the UN Security Council to deploy international troops along the north – south border ahead of the referendum on self-determination in southern Sudan.
Different press reports said Sudan’s foreign minister, Ali Ahmed Karti, during his meeting with the visiting delegation on Saturday rejected such measure considering it as violating the 2005 peace agreement terming it as unacceptable.
On Sunday Ibrahim Ghandoor, the headof political secretary at the ruling National Congress Party echoed Karti’s position saying his party rejects any measure not included in the CPA.
“Sudan is still one country and it is very strange that a part of the state asks for international troops without the consent or agreement of the federal government,” he said.
The two parties diverge over 20 per cent of the ill delimited north-south border. Yesterday the Sudanese president repeated his position on the referendum saying border should be demarcated before the run of the vote on southern Sudan independence next January. But, the SPLM says the demarcation must intervene after the referendum.
A diplomat from the visiting UN delegation told Reuters that they would consider Kiir’s request but did not make any promise to the president of southern Sudan government.
Gandoor excluded that the UN would mull over the demand underlining that UNMIS peacekeepers have specific tasks defined already the CPA and they are well-known.
Another diplomat from the UN Security Council admitted that such operation requires some adjustments.
In accordance with the UNMIS mandate, the 10,000 peacekeepers have to monitor and verify CPA implementation. They also tasked with the monitoring the movement of armed groups based on the ceasefire agreement. UNMIS’s mission does not include border monitoring.
(ST)