Gration to return to Sudan
2009-12-11 11:06
Washington - US envoy Scott Gration will return to Sudan at the weekend in a bid to defuse rising tensions ahead of elections and a referendum for the south, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday.
Clinton urged restraint from all sides after Sudanese police detained three senior opposition figures and dozens of demonstrators from the south's ruling party on Monday as part of a broad crackdown against a planned protest.
Southern protesters responded by torching offices of Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP).
"The United States condemns the disruption of peaceful protest and acts of political violence committed by any party," Clinton said in a statement to reporters when she appeared with Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Jandrokovic.
"Freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, protection from arbitrary arrest are instrumental to allow for credible elections in 2010," the chief US diplomat said.
Resolve outstanding issues
"We recognise that the next few months will be tense as we get closer to the election and the referendum," she added.
"It is critical that all parties redouble their efforts to resolve problems through political dialogue and without violence," Clinton said.
"Special envoy Scott Gration will return to Sudan this weekend to help restart dialogue and resolve outstanding issues that are contributing to these rising tensions," she said.
"Sudan is an important priority for President (Barack) Obama and myself and we are committed to seeing a peaceful, democratic transformation as envisioned in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Darfur," Clinton said.
Political will
"I urge all parties to demonstrate the political will necessary to achieve these objectives," she concluded.
A 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement ended a two-decade civil war, fought by southern rebels against the Arab-dominated north over resources, religion and ethnicity.
Some two million people were killed and four million fled their homes in a war separate from the conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region.
The peace deal saw the largely Christian and black African south win regional autonomy under the former rebel leadership - the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) - with a referendum on its potential full independence slated for January 2011.
But the SPLM and President Omar al-Bashir's NCP have failed to agree on democratic reforms ahead of next April's elections and on a procedural law for the south's referendum.
- SAPA