Sudan is the most qualified country to mediate in South Sudan’s conflict: FM February 1, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s foreign minister, Ali Karti, said that his country is most qualified for mediating between the conflicting parties in South Sudan and that Khartoum chose to play this role through the initiative of the East African bloc, Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). JPEG - 28.1 kbFILE PHOTO - Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti (GETTY) Fighting began on December 15th between forces loyal to the country’s former vice president Riek Machar and the South Sudanese army in support of President Salva Kiir, following weeks of tension within the young nation’s ruling party (SPLM). Karti said in press statements upon arrival of the Sudanese delegation headed by president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir from Addis Ababa following participation in the 22nd African Union (AU) summit, that the summit focused on urgent issues of the continent particularly the ongoing conflict in South Sudan. He noted the meeting of the IGAD’s heads of states discussed in details the South Sudanese conflict and outcome of negotiations between the warring parties which was held under the auspices of IGAD represented by Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya. “There exists a cessation of hostilities agreement and there are observers on the ground to ensure implementation of the agreement, and Sudan has observers among them”, he added On January 23rd, South Sudanese government and rebel delegations signed a ceasefire agreement in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. But the two sides later traded accusations over violations of the agreement. The deal, received with caution from citizens, is supposed to halt military engagements between the two warring parties and pave way for discussions about the root cause of the conflict, which has displaced over half a million people and claimed between 1,000 to 10,000 lives, depending on different estimates. Sudan is represented in the AU mediation team by Mohamed Ahmed al-Dabi besides the Kenyan, Lazarus Sumbeiywo, and the Ethiopian, Seyoum Mesfin. The Sudanese foreign minister further said warring parties would resume meetings on February 7th to approve a final ceasefire, affirming IGAD’s ministerial meeting raised some observations on the crisis particularly resorting to tribalism by some fighters. He reiterated IGAD’s keenness to follow developments of South Sudan’s crisis on daily basis, saying Sudan is the country most qualified for playing the role of the successful mediator between the conflicting parties due to its historic and strong ties with South Sudan. “Sudan decided to play that role from within IGAD through its representative Mohamed Ahmed Al-Dabi”, he added sudantribune/local/cache-vignettes/L344xH230/FILE_PHOTO_-_Sudanese_Foreign_Minister_Ali_Ahmed_Karti_GETTY_-d3f19.jpg
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 05:30:37 +0000
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