'Little to celebrate' in Sudan
2006-01-09 13:57
Khartoum - Sudan pledged to implement a historic north-south peace deal on its first anniversary, but aid agencies said there was little to celebrate as peace dividends were slow to come for many Sudanese.
"Sudan and its national government renews its steadfast determination to implement all the articles of the peace agreement," a foreign ministry statement said on the eve of the first anniversary of the accords.
On January 9 2005, Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir's Islamist regime and the mainly Christian southern rebels signed the deal that put an end to a war that lasted 21 years, killed 1.5 million people and displaced four million.
Its main partners, Beshir's National Congress Party (NCP) and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) of Salva Kiir, are organising a series of events to mark a year since the signing of the accords.
Celebrations will culminate on Monday in Juba, the capital of the south, with an event to be kicked off with a keynote speech by southern leader Kiir, who is also Sudan's first vice-president.
Bleak outlook
Delegates from the Intergovernmental Agency on Development (IGAD), the East African group that sponsored the talks that led to the signing of the deal, were also expected to attend, along with other dignitaries.
Thousands of people began flocking to the event's venue, the Peace Square, early in the morning, with cultural shows and performances and other entertainment scheduled throughout the day.
But aid agencies said there was little cause for celebration, as the people had yet to see peace dividends on the ground and conflict continued in the western region of Darfur and the eastern part of the country.
The war between government forces and ethnic minority rebels in Darfur has left as many as 300 000 people dead and an estimated 2.5 million displaced, creating what the United Nations called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Deliver on pledges
Many had hailed the north-south peace deal as an historic achievement and expressed optimism that it could be used as a model to resolve the country's other conflicts.
The foreign ministry called on the international community to deliver on pledges it made at a donors' conference in Norway last April for $4.5bn in development assistance for war-affected areas of Sudan.
The aid agencies said the "delays have meant that little has reached the struggling communities who are trying to rebuild their lives".
Analysts said the agreement itself is still threatened on several fronts, including a reluctance by the north to loosen its grip on power and a south already leaning towards independence.
They have also argued that the international community has fallen short of its pledge to prop up the north-south peace deal, offering massive humanitarian aid but failing to assist the political process.
Foreign minister Lam Akol himself urged Washington on Sunday to support the peace deal and reiterated an appeal for financial pledges to be paid during a meeting on Sunday with US congressman Jim Kolbe.
The death of the SPLM's historical leader John Garang in a July helicopter crash also dealt a serious blow to a peace process he had come to symbolise.
"The challenge this year is to make sure that people of Sudan really feel the benefits of peace," the aid agencies pointed out.