Sudan forms new government

2005-07-05 11:59

Mohammed Ali Saeed

Khartoum - The appointment of a new unity government will cover up Sudan's fractious politics but the upcoming interim period could witness intense jostling ahead of general elections.

Khartoum and former southern rebels, the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM), signed a peace deal last January. The deal gave the ruling National Congress (NC) party and the SPLM 52% and 28% of executive posts and legislative seats, respectively, at the national level, leaving the opposition with 20%.

Fourteen out of the 20% will go to northern opposition parties, with the remaining 6% to be split among southern groups.

The SPLM and NC have campaigned hard, with varying degrees of success, to bring as many northern and southern groups on board.

Possible threat to peace agreement

In April, the SPLM managed to win support from the south's fractious political groups for the peace deal at the end of a three-day reconciliation conference in Kenya.

But SPLM leader John Garang still has to bring southern militia commanders previously supported by the government into the fold. Analysts warned their continued presence could disturb the peace agreement.

On June 18, Khartoum and the country's largest opposition bloc, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), signed an agreement in Cairo that heralded the NDA's return home and participation in political life.

The NDA, whose members include more than a dozen groups from the north, east and west, is still haggling with the NC and SPLM over the 20% quota allotted to the opposition, saying it wants fairer representation.

The NC and SPLM argue altering the quotas would require a renegotiation of the north-south deal, or Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), something which the two peace partners are reluctant to do.

Monopolising power counterproductive

Observers warn any attempt by the NC and SPLM to monopolise power will be counterproductive to reconciliation efforts.

The Umma party, one of the largest political groups in the country, and the Popular Congress (PC) party of Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi have already refused to sign up in protest at the quotas.

The general elections due to be held by the end of the fourth year of the interim period will end the quota system and possibly lead to a redrawing of Sudan's political map.

The SPLM may have to forge alliances with the non-Arab constituencies in the south, Nuba mountains in central Sudan and southern Blue Nile, where it has support, and the NC will attempt to woo northern political groups.

Haider Ibrahim, director of the Centre for Sudanese Studies in Cairo, said the Umma will no longer hold sway in its traditional stronghold in Darfur, and its historic rival, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), may also find it hard to win its usual supporters in the east.

The coming stage, said Ibrahim, will see a reshaping of the political map along ethnic lines.

- AFP