Sudan: Recommitment to Peace
Nov 13 2007
Postings >> Sudan

North and south Sudan have 'recommitted' themselves to peace, after a few tense weeks when relations threatened to break down entirely.

Southerners became so frustrated with lack of progress on the 2005 peace deal that the south's main party withdrew its ministers from the national government last month. Tension had been brewing for months and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) finally lost patience with its northern partners.

Former rebels in the SPLM accused northern politicians of dragging their heels over boundary demarcations and the withdrawal of northern troops from southern Sudan. They were also angry that there is still no resolution on who should control Abyei, an oil-rich region straddling the north-south border.

Southern leader Salva Kiir, who is also vice-president of the government of national unity, warned recently that there could be a return to war if progress on peace remained slow.

Recent crisis talks between northern and southern politicians in Khartoum seem to have averted a showdown. UN Special Envoy Andrew Natsios told the BBC that both sides have now agreed to 'fully implement' the 2005 peace accord which ended the civil war.

Mr Natsios said that sticking points such as northern troop withdrawal had been agreed. The two important issues still remain unresolved: north-south border demarcation and control of Abyei. On these issues, both sides are 'showing flexibility', said Mr Natsios.

New threats to security in the mainly Christian and animist south continue to surface. A recent report in a southern newspaper, The Juba Post, reveals that key southern politicians and religious leaders feature on a hit list drawn up by a training cell preparing Islamist militants for jihad in the south.

• Pray that southern and northern politicians alike will set aside party politics and implement all elements of the 2005 north-south peace deal by the end of 2007.
• Pray that governments including our own would hold the Khartoum government to its commitments to bring lasting peace to Sudan.