June 17, 2009 (JUBA) — The First Vice President of Sudan and South Sudan president Salva Kiir today accused unspecified parties of seeking to undermine the stability of the semi-autonomous south.
In what appears to be a subtle message to the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), Kiir said that “spoilers of peace” are creating political parties to weaken Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) which is the dominant party in the south.
“We know some political parties will be created and sponsored by spoilers of peace with the aim of dividing us, weakening us and derailing our noble journey of changing Sudan and realizing the aspirations of our people” SPLM’s chairman told the opening session of South Sudan Legislative Assembly (SSLA).
“We must make our people fully aware of these parties and I am confident that our people will eventually make the right choice of the party that will represent them well during these difficult times. The days of bribery, intimidation and blackmailing are gone,” he added.
Sudan’s former foreign minister and a leading SPLM figure Lam Akol announced this month the formation of SPLM-for Democratic Change (SPLM-DC).
Akol blasted the SPLM leadership accusing it of being “undemocratic” and “bankrupt”. Furthermore, he said that support for SPLM is eroding amongst the Southern Sudanese.
SPLM officials accused the NCP of seeking to create Southern parties parallel to them and lodged a formal complaint with the national parties commission over the use of the SPLM name by Akol.
The GoSS president also rejected allegations that his government is restricting activities of other political parties in the South saying that he is not aware of any such practice.
“I want to say with confidence that people of Southern Sudan enjoy more freedom than any other parts in Sudan. In fact in Southern Sudan we do not have an institutionalized culture of restricting the freedoms of citizens in order to protect and maintain power,” Kiir said.
“We have institutions in Sudan that are still with the mindset of the old Sudan and continue to have a free hand to arrest any citizen and to censor media at their will, always reminding us of ghost houses,” he added.
In late May the Sudanese President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir has threatened to ban the southern Sudan ruling party from operating in the northern part of the country if it does not remove the restrictions imposed on the other political parties in the south.
Al-Bashir, who is also the NCP chairman, urged the southern Sudan government to create the healthy environment for the democratic process adding they have to remove the ban imposed on the other southern political forces including the National Congress Party.
“The same circles that accuse the SPLM of restricting political activities in Southern Sudan authorize these [security] institutions to be equipped with sharp teeth and claws to restrict further the basic freedoms of our citizens,” Kiir said.
The GoSS president tackled the growing violence in different part of Southern Sudan calling them “disturbing” and requiring “immediate attention”.
He again accused “enemies of peace” of standing behind the recent surge in tribal clashes that claimed the loves of hundreds of people.
Kiir said that “external forces” want to show the “the people of Southern Sudan as a people who cannot govern themselves” adding that he expects the violence to increase as they approach the 2009 elections and the 2011 referendum on secession.
“I want to assure you that we will prove the enemies of peace wrong. We will ensure that our people will have fair and free general elections and it is my moral obligation and duty to ensure that our people will exercise their right of self-determination by 2011,” he stressed.
He also warned that the SPLA is prepared to go back to war if forced.
“As I have always said in my previous speeches, as President of the Government of Southern Sudan, I will not be the one to take this country back to war, but if war was to be imposed on us we can all feel assured that we are capable of defending ourselves,” he said.
On the recent census, Kiir reiterated his rejection of the results saying that he made his views known during the meeting with Bashir and 2nd Vice President Ali Osman Taha.
He repeated his calls for a 30% Southern Sudan population to be used for wealth and power sharing formula. So far NCP officials have rejected the proposal.
The Southern Sudan president also discussed governmental performance and the financial crisis. He highlighted the recent cabinet reshuffle saying it was necessary to improve security and manage the deteriorating finances.
Kiir said he will monitor the ministers work to make sure they must produce specific deliverables in terms of infrastructure and services.
He also suggested that the South has yet to receive its full share of the oil revenue mentioning build up of revenue arrears and random deductions by the central government by the central government.
Khartoum and oil-producing southern Sudan’s rebels signed a peace pact in 2005 that ended more than two decades of civil war that killed 2 million people.
Since then, the southern government and Arab-dominated north have struggled to implement power- and wealth-sharing protocols.
(ST)