Other Information
2005
Who’s who on Darfur - 21 February 2005
Chaiman’s 22nd anniversary address at a mass rally in Rumbek on 16th 2005
Garang's
speech at the signing ceremony of S. Sudan peace deal - 2005 January
9th
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| Africa Confidential, 18 February 2005
The United Nations International Commission of Inquiry’s report into the atrocities in Darfur names 51 individuals it recommends for prosecution at the International Criminal Court. The file has been sealed, to be opened only by a ‘competent prosecutor’. The names of many people involved in Darfur policy have been published by governments, the United States Congress, human rights organisations and the media since the genocide/ethnic cleansing got under way in earnest in early 2003. A 2004 Congressional report lists Vice-President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha as at first in ‘charge of the offensive in Darfur’ and later ‘the key player behind the scenes’, according to ‘US and regional officials’. Other policy-making officials listed here and elsewhere include: - Lieutenant General Nafi’e Ali Nafi’e, seen as second-in-command
on Darfur: Federal
The published part of the US State Department’s List of Janjaweed commanders comprises: - Musa Hilal Musa: Janjaweed coordinator and Buffalo Brigade
(Liwa el Jamous)
The US Congress members’ letter names as ‘supervising and controlling
Janjaweed activities
- Abdel Hamid Musa Kasha: Commerce Minister;
As field commanders, along with - Musa Hilal and Hamid Dawai, the Congress members list: - Brig. Abdel Wahid (Said Ali Said): Kebkabiya area;
Also potentially of interest in their military/political roles are: - Gen. Abdel Karim Abdullah: intelligence chief;
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| From : Chairman/C-In-C, SPLM/SPLA
To All Units 1. Special Anniversary Greetings. Today, 16th of May 2005, is our 22nd anniversary. This year is a special anniversary. It comes after we have signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) last January 9th 2005. This is therefore our last anniversary in the bush and before we become the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS). This is a great and special day, and this is why I have come to Rumbek to celebrate with you and with the people of New Sudan. On the occasion of this 22nd anniversary, I congratulate all officers, NCOs, men and cadres of the SPLA; I congratulate all in the SPLM and all in the CANS; I congratulate and all our civil population from Nimule to Juba, Wau, Abyei, Malakal, Kadugli and Damazine from Nimule to Halfa; Geneinna to Kassala for achieving the CPA. I congratulate all of you who are in this rally and through you and this rally I greet all our people everywhere in Sudan and in Diaspora, and congratulate them for achieving a fair and just peace. 2. Tribute and Salute to the Martyrs. Before I make my address on this special and great occasion of our 22nd anniversary, I first pay tribute and salute the memory and honour of all our martyrs, who have fallen in the struggle for Sudanese dignity before independence, during the Anyanya Movement and in the war that has just ended. It is because of their ultimate sacrifice that it was possible to reach the CPA. I salute the memory of these martyrs as a reminder that they did not die in vain. The legacy and spirit of their struggle and sacrifice will always guide us and all generations to come toward a better and ever better Southern Sudan and Sudan as a whole, whatever the result of the referendum on self-determination will be at the end of the six year Interim Period. I therefore ask you to stand and observe one minute of solemn silence as a tribute and salute to our martyrs and wounded heroes to whom we dedicate this day and occasion … (after pause …). We shall hold special celebrations of the 22nd anniversary for the founding units of the SPLA – 105 and 104 Battalions, Jamus, Tiger and Tumsah Battalions and Katibat Banat. This celebration will be done in Bor as soon as conditions allow. Some veterans from 105, 104, Jamus, Tiger, Tumsah and Katibat Banat are here today. 104, 105, Tiger, Jamus, Tumsah and Katibat Banat Oye! I greet you who are here and all your colleagues everywhere. I also greet all the other historic units and formations of the SPLA. Koryom Oye! Muormuor Oye! Zalzal Oye! Infigar Oye! Mukushasha Oye! SPLA Oye! SPLM Oye! After the celebrations of the initial four formations of the SPLA, we shall also organize get-together celebrations for all units and formations of the SPLA, so that these eventually become annual events organized and funded by the members themselves. We shall also organize occasions for Anyanya veterans from who the SPLM/A took the torch of liberation and freedom. Yes, we must keep, remember and glorify our struggle and our history, because a people without a history are doomed to extinction to become dinosaurs in history books. 3. Local Insecurity Must Stop immediately. The struggle has been long, 22 years today, and it has been hard. There has been a great deal of suffering. More than one million people have died of war and war-related causes; more than three million have been displaced internally and as refugees, and despite our best community efforts, the vast majority of our children have lost opportunities for education. With conclusion of the CPA all this suffering must now stop, but ironically we are losing lives and property in this sub-Region through sectional and clan fighting. I here ask and here order that all sectional and clan fighting must stop forthwith. All cattle rustling and cattle thefts and the killings associated with them must stop forthwith. All stolen cattle must be returned to their owners and lives lost must be compensated according to customary law and all necessary legal measures must be taken against the culprits involved in this unnecessary fighting and unnecessary loss of loves and property. I have come to Rumbek to celebrate our last anniversary in the Bush, and also to use my presence here to work with local authorities and the SPLM-LC to bring to an immediate end the rampant insecurity that has recently afflicted the three sub-Regions of Lakes, Warrap and Western Upper Nile. Accordingly I have ordered all local authorities of the three sub-Regions to Rumbek, and they should already be here, so that we resolve this uncalled for situation of local insecurity. So the Commissioners of all Yirol Counties, all Rumbek Counties, all Tonj counties, all Gogrial Counties and all bordering counties of Western Upper Nile should be here along with the military authorities of the 1st and 3rd Front. The insecurity must end immediately and everything must be done to end it and to do justice to victims. There must not be any unnecessary loss of live and property when we have achieved the CPA. 4. Looking Back at 22 Years of Struggle As we celebrate 22 years of our heroic struggle and this time in peace, let us look back and rearm ourselves with the inspiration that has kept us for the last 22 years and has reached us this far. As I said before, the struggle has been long and hard with much causality in lives and property and lost opportunities. But as long as the land and the cause are not lost, everything else may be lost, but can and will be regained, and much more added. The struggle itself as we look back has been a miracle as it went forward and backwards, but overall it went forward until we reached the CPA. The struggle will go through four phases. We have already traveled through two of these phases and two more are in front of us. These four phases are: - Four Phases of the Struggle:
It is because we defined the problem we set out to solve correctly. Our vision was correct -- to solve Mashkalaat al-Sudan not al-Junub. From the vision flowed our objectives, strategies and tactics. Our objectives were and are: (a) New Sudan and (b) RSD. It is because of the relentless war we fought all over the Sudan. It is because we stayed the course, we were consistent and persistent. I pay tribute to our martyrs, wounded heroes & SPLA – they brought CPA and we will take care of the widows and orphans and disabled. I pay tribute to our civil population, who provided the logistics for the war, and the SPLM/GOSS will faithfully serve you, the people by translating the CPA into tangible benefits of development and services. 5. Forgiveness, Reconciliation and Unity. Now that we have signed the CPA, our next and immediate task is to ensure that it is implemented in letter and spirit, and in order to do this correctly, my main message to you is on the need for forgiveness, reconciliation and unity of the people of New Sudan and the unity of your Movement, the SPLM/SPLA, so that we are best able to face the challenges of peace that are ahead of us. In order to implement the CPA, the unity of the SPLM/A, and of the people of New Sudan, is of paramount importance, indeed unity is a necessary condition for successful implementation of the CPA because those opposed to the CPA in both North and South will try to divide us and use some of us to derail and renege on the CPA. Those who are opposed to the CPA have no other weapon except to hope that the SPLM/A and the people of Southern will be divided as happened in 1991. This must not be allowed and everything must be done to abort such diabolic plans. Our weapon to stop such plans and illwishes is forgiveness, reconciliation and unity. This was my main message in the recently held and successful South-South Dialogue and it is my main message in this anniversary celebrations. The “Covenant of the People of Southern Sudan” which was the end-result of the South-South Dialogue was signed by 24 Southern Sudanese leaders and witnessed by former President Daniel Arap Moi. It is only the leaders of Armed Groups affiliated to the GOS that were not present at the South-South Dialogue, and this is because the Government prevented them from traveling to Nairobi. We will continue to work and I am personally in contact with them to bring them into the process of forgiveness, reconciliation and unity, so that we implement the CPA in a stable and peaceful Southern Sudan and achieve the aspirations of our people. There is no reason why these Armed Groups should continue to be used as counter-insurgency forces because the insurgency is over and so the Government will have no use for them, and we welcome them to the fold of Southern Sudan. 6. The CPA is good and it belongs to all Sudanese: As we begin the 23rd year of our struggle, our main task as I said before shall be to implement the CPA and to develop new tools of struggle for this purpose. The CPA is good and it belongs to all the Sudanese people, and so I appeal to all Sudanese to support the CPA and to achieve consensus around it. It is true that the CPA was negotiated by the SPLM and NCP-GOS, however the CPA does not belong to the SPLM nor to the NCP-GOS; it does not belong to John Garang and Ali Osman who signed it; it belongs to all Sudanese; it belongs to you, the people, and so you own it and use it for the development and provision of basic services. Although some of you have read the CPA and although it has been explained to you many times, I want to summarize in twelve points what the people of Southern Sudan, Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile and Abyei and Sudanese in general have achieved in the CPA: - (1) CPA Ends the War. The First great achievement of the CPA is that it has ended a war that has lasted 22 years, and more importantly it has ended the war through a just and honorable peace with dignity. With the CPA there will be no more bombs dropping from the sky on innocent children and women. Instead of the cries of children and the wailing of women and the pain of the last 22 years of war, peace will bless us with prosperity and happiness. The CPA will move our people away from war, insecurity, instability and suffering to peace, security, stability and development. This is a great achievement. (2) Secondly, Right of Self Determination: At the end of six years, southerners will vote in a free and internationally monitored referendum on self-determination, to choose whether to remain in a united Sudan under the “one country two systems” arrangement, or opt for an independent Southern Sudan. The challenge now for Sudan is to make unity attractive to Southern Sudanese so that they vote for it during the referendum. If unity is not made attractive, why would any Southerner vote himself or herself into second class citizenship? If Sudan does not sufficiently and fundamentally change, why should anybody vote to become a servant instead of being a master in his/her own independent house? Clearly the Sudanese must work hard during the Interim Period to make unity attractive, if they want the Sudan to remain united as one country that accommodates all its citizens equally. (3) Third, North/South Border Demarcation: An issue related to the right of self-determination is that of return to Southern Sudan of all areas that were annexed to Northern Sudan after 1956 by various Khartoum regimes. This will be determined by a North/South Boundary Commission as provided for in the CPA. These areas are in Bahr el Ghazal and Upper Nile, and include Kafia Kingi and Hofret Nahas in Western Bahr el Ghazal and Chali al-Fil in North Eastern Upper Nile. Even Higlig is reported to have been recently annexed to a newly created province in Kordofan called Keilak. The CPA clearly states that the boundaries of Southern Sudan are as they stood on 1/1/1956 and any areas that were part of Southern Sudan by this date must be returned to the administration of the GOSS. (4) Real Power in the South within the context of a “One Country Two Systems Model”. Southern Sudan shall have its own Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS). It will be an SPLM-based Government; and for the first time in its history, Southern Sudan shall have genuine political power that does not depend on the goodwill of the Central Government, but that depends on the will of the people of Southern Sudan. This power will be exercised in the context of a “one country two systems” model, which the SPLM has advocated since the Abuja talks in 1993 and during the IGAD talks. The GOSS will exercise extensive, exclusive and concurrent political powers including the power to initiate and conclude international agreements in social, cultural, educational and economic fields with foreign countries and international organizations and to have offices abroad for these purposes. (5) Fifthly, Significant and Real Power in the Center. The SPLM and Southern Sudan shall also have significant and real power in the central government, as we shall have up to ten full Ministers, eleven State Ministers and the office of the 1st Vice President, with powers as well as at least 25% of posts in the national civil service as well as in the administration of the National Capital. The SPLM and Southern Sudan’s presence in Khartoum will not be token representation as happened before. In the CPA we have grouped the Ministries into three clusters: (a) Nine Sovereignty Ministries from which we shall have three, (b) Ten Economy Ministries from which we shall have three, and (c) Eleven Services Ministries from which we shall have four. We shall also have at least eleven State Ministers also similarly clustered. We will put our best people in these Ministries and we shall assert ourselves; nobody will push us aside or marginalize us in any way in the cabinet to which we shall belong by right not by invitation or someone else’s goodwill. Our presence in the central government at all levels will be real and effective and it shall be by the authority of the CPA and the Interim National Constitution. (6) Sixth, an independent SPLA during the Interim Period. The SPLA shall remain a standing army under its own command and shall be considered and treated equally with SAF as part of Sudan’s National Armed Forces. Meanwhile a forty thousand strong Joint Integrated Unit (JIU) is to be created of equal numbers from the two armed forces to be deployed in Southern Sudan, the two areas, the National Capital and Abyei. At the end of six years if the result of the referendum on self-determination is unity, the two armies will merge to become one National Army; otherwise if the result is in favour of independence, the SPLA would be transformed into the national Army of Southern Sudan. The Security Arrangements Agreement and the existence of two armies during the Interim Period are the most important guarantees for stability and implementation of the peace agreement, in addition of course to the goodwill of the Parties and international guarantees (7) Seventh, Wealth Sharing and Sources of Revenue for the GOSS: Unlike the Addis Ababa Agreement, the CPA provides Southern Sudan with its own organic sources of revenue that do not depend on Khartoum. There are four such sources of revenue, namely: (a) 50% of oil revenues, (b) 50% of non-oil central government revenues generated in Southern, (c) revenues generated by the GOSS by virtue of its taxing powers; and (d) international assistance to Southern Sudan, which will come directly to Southern Sudan through the Bank of Southern Sudan (BOSS). And as you might have followed in the News, the Oslo Donors Conference generated more than four billion US dollars in pledges. At least 50% of these pledges shall accrue to Southern Sudan and the rest for other war affected areas in the North, i.e., of Nuba Mountains, Southern Blue Nile, Abyei, Eastern Sudan and Darfur as well as other neglected areas of the North. (8) Eighth, Own Banking System for Southern Sudan. Southern Sudan will also have its own secular banking system within the context of a “one country two systems” model. We have agreed that there will be one Central Bank of Sudan, but it will have two windows, one window for Islamic banking for the North, and one window for conventional banking for the South. The secular window of the CBS will be operated by the Bank of Southern Sudan (BOSS), which shall have the power to open correspondent accounts with foreign banks of its choice. This means that BOSS will operate with international banks directly and only keep the Mother CBS informed. Moreover there will be one currency for the country, which shall be agreed upon by the Parties, but in the meantime the currencies circulating in Southern Sudan are recognized, that is why the Sudanese pound is operating in our areas as legal tender until when we jointly issue the new agreed currency. Unlike the case of the Addis Ababa Agreement, Southern Sudan and GOSS shall make their financial transactions with the CBS and with the international community through the BOSS. The currency just issued in Rumbek is not a new currency; its is old notes of the Sudan Pound, which was circulating before, that has been reissued as happens in any economy since notes get worn out; that is why the exchange value is the same. I understand that the quality of the paper of the currency is poor and that there are other technical problems. These will be solved and the notes improved to standard quality, and the New Sudan Pound at the same market value as the old notes will continue to circulate until when both the New Sudan pound and the Dinnar are replaced by a new joint currency agreed to by the Parties as came in the CPA. (9) Ninth, Resolution of the Problem of Abyei. As you all know the problem of Abyei is even older as that of the south as Abyei was annexed to Kordofan in 1905, one hundred years ago, while Southern Sudan was formally amalgamated with the North in 1947 by the colonial regime and Darfur in 1916. The CPA grants Abyei the right of self-determination, whereby the people of Abyei will conduct a separate referendum but the same day as Southerners to choose whether to remain in the North or return to the South. The oil of Abyei is also split six ways: 2% for Ngok Dinka, 2% for Missiriya, 2% for Western Kodorfan State, 2% for Bahr el Ghazal, 42% for GOSS and 50% for the GONU. And during the six years of the Interim Period Abyei will be under a special Administration under the supervision of the Presidency, and one Battalion of JIUs for security in addition to international monitors and observers. This is a major achievement and we congratulate the people of Abyei and wish them well in their new political dispensation. 10) Tenth, the Two Areas Agreement. The two areas (Nuba Mountains and Southern Blue Nile) also have a good Agreement as part of the CPA. The CPA gives the SPLM 45% of power in the two areas, resolves the problem of land, which was one of the main reasons people of the two areas took up arms, and provides for the Right of Popular Consultation after four years for the people to give their views and decision on the Agreement of the two areas. I want to assure the people of the two areas that the SPLM will never abandon them as some agitators say in their propaganda. Firstly, the SPLA will remain in the two areas in the form of JIUs; secondly excess forces above those required for the JIUs will be deployed in the South together with other SPLA units and they shall be under SPLA GHQ, and thirdly, it is the same SPLM that shall form the GOSS and the 45% share in the State Governments of Nuba Mountains and Southern Blue Nile. As you can see both the SPLM and the SPLA will remain united and the Two Areas are inseparable components. (11) Eleventh, the SPLM shall remain a national political Movement. The CPA enables the SPLM to retain its national character and to expand all over the Sudan. The SPLM shall consolidate itself in Southern Sudan where we shall have 70% of power and in the Nuba Mountains and Southern Blue Nile where we shall have 45% of power. The SPLM shall also have 10% of power in all the remaining 15 States of the North. With the consolidation of the SPLM in Southern Sudan and its expansion and consolidation in the Nuba Mountains, Southern Blue Nile and the other States of the North, the SPLM clearly has the potential to become the majority party in the coming national elections at all levels – local, state and national. I therefore on the occasion of this 22nd anniversary celebrations appeal to all Sudanese everywhere – in the South, Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile, Eastern Sudan, Northern Kordofan, Khartoum, Central Sudan and the far North to join the SPLM and rally behind so that we complete the project of New Sudan and build a Great Sudan. (12) Finally, the CPA is also good for all others. The CPA is not only good for the SPLM, Southern Sudan, Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile and Abyei; it is also good for the NCP and for all other political forces in the North and for all of Sudan. For the NCP they become our partners for at least six years, and for the other political forces in the North the CPA achieves all the objectives they have struggled for including Democracy and elections, Interim Government, Interim Constitution and Human Rights. The CPA can also be adapted and applied to bring peace in other parts of the country such as Darfur and Eastern Sudan. The CPA represent a true and genuine paradigm shift for the democratic transformation of the Sudan, if implemented, and for the renewal of Sudan to achieve prosperity and happiness for all Sudanese in our lifetime and for all future generations to come. As you can see in the twelve points that I have just presented, the CPA contains all the objectives we have struggled to achieve over the last 22 years. When you combine (a) real power in the GOSS, (b) an independent SPLA, (c) organic sources of revenue for the GOSS, and (d) a separate banking system, then one can say that we truly have an autonomous Southern Sudan. And as I said before the CPA is also good for everybody else in the Sudan, for all the political forces and for all the Sudanese people. The SPLM and the NCP brought the CPA, but it now belongs to all the Sudanese people and it is a win-win agreement for all. There are no losers in the CPA as it gives everyone their rights. In general the “One Country two systems model” shall be reflected in all structures and relationships. The connection between Khartoum and Juba shall only be nominal at the top most macro levels such as the national constitutional court, the office of the 1st Vice President, the dual banking system, the JIUs and JDB, and so on. Some people have argued that the CPA presents separatist arrangements, but I disagree; the CPA is actually good for the unity of the country, for unity can only be based on freedom, equality and confidence. Only if, or rather when, Southerners and the marginalized people of Sudan in general are assured of their rights, of equality, of justice, can they voluntarily choose to remain in a united and New Sudan, not out of coercion but because they want to. 7. SPLM Program During the Interim Period The CPA is clearly a good agreement. What are left are its implementation and its translation into tangible benefits for the people of southern Sudan, the two areas, Abyei and the whole of Sudan. I have summarized the SPLM post war programmes and priorities in the following six points. These are programmes that will fundamentally change the lives of the people of New Sudan. The peace dividend that they expect as individuals and as communities and for which they have fought for the last 50 years since August 1955 will be provided by these programmes, and I ask all the people of New Sudan to build consensus around these programmes and to own them; these are: - (1) The Wounds of War and Healing. I believe that our first and foremost task and priority is to heal, to forgive, to reconcile and to unite around the CPA and its implementation so that we face the challenges of the Interim Period with a unified purpose, will and cohesion. This is what we did recently in the South-south dialogue, and I have called a conference of all the counties involved in instability of the last few months in Lakes, Warrap and Western Upper Nile. The peace, reconciliation and stability must begin here where we have our Interim SPLM administration. (2) Governance Infrastructure. Our second priority is the establishment of a good governance infrastructure and the rule of law and order to ensure justice and stability all over Southern Sudan. This governance must be inclusive of all ethnic groups in all aspects of politics, power and the economy, and must be completely transparent and fight nepotism and corruption. (3) Physical Infrastructure. Our third priority shall be physical Infrastructure – roads, railways, river transport, telecommunications and electric power generation, and we are starting literally from scratch. Since creation, there has never been a single tarmac road in Southern Sudan, an area the size of Kenya and Uganda put together. We shall concentrate our energies on the construction of thirteen key roads, these are: (1) Juba- Nimule, (2) Juba-Kapoeta-Lokichoggio, (3) Wau-Rumbek-Maridi-Yei-Kaya, (4) Juba-Yei-Lasu, (5) Juba-Malakal-Renk, (6) Wau-Tambura-Yambio-Maridi, (7) Rumbek-Yirol-Bor-Pochalla, (8) Wau-Warrap-Abyei-Kadugli, (9) Melut- Adar-Ulu-Kurmuk-Damazine, (10) Malakal-Nasir-Jekou, (11) Wau-Aweil- Babanusa, (12) Wau-Raga-Nyala to Darfur and Shambe-Yirol-Bedntiu- Pariang-Jaw-Kadugli. In addition to the roads, two railway linkages are important: the rehabilitation of the Wau-Aweil-Babanusa railway and a railway connecting Juba to Mombasa, either through Uganda or Kenya. We are also discussing with DR Congo linking of Juba-Yei-Lasu with Kisangani by railway to have access to the Atlantic Ocean and open up DR Congo markets to Southern Sudan. Opening up of River Nile transport is also urgent. Finally, construction of a major dam for hydroelectric generation at Fulla rapids or Bedden Falls south of Juba is critical to overall development of Southern Sudan. This transport network will link Southern Sudan with Northern Sudan and with the Greater Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes Area, and create a major market of some 300 million people. It is a win-win strategy for all stakeholders in the Sudan, in the Region and the rest of the world. I ask the people of New Sudan to be forward looking in having bigger economic and political entities in the Region. (4) Economic Development and Financial Infrastructure. On the economic front our goal is clearly set; within the context of the CPA, and in conformity with the millennium development goals, both the Government of National Unity and Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) shall adopt poverty eradication as the ultimate objective of socio-economic development. To this end, of poverty eradication, the SPLM shall adopt an economic development vision and program that emphasizes economic growth through rural development and transformation of traditional agriculture that is integrated with agro-industries. We aim to transform the present subsistence traditional agriculture in Southern Sudan and other areas through technological innovations, and make agriculture the engine of growth. The SPLM vision is encapsulated in two slogans to “use the oil revenues to fuel agriculture” and to “take towns to people in the countryside rather than people to towns” and more than 90% of the population of New Sudan live in rural areas. For any meaningful development to take place we must have a functioning a viable market including financial institutions of different times and encourage a vibrant market economy. (5) Provision of Social or public Services. Our fifth priority is the provision of basic social services – education, health, sanitation and clean water, etc to our people, and the facilitation of the return, reintegration and rehabilitation of some three million IDPs and refuges that are expected to return to their homes following the CPA. It is estimated that more than one million people have returned to their homes over the last six months, and the internationally community has done nothing in this grave situation. I appeal to the UN and the international community to urgently come to the assistance of the people of Southern Sudan, the Two Areas and Abyei. (6) Youth, Women and the Diaspora. Finally, I want to briefly mention and appeal to three important constituencies of our people; these are the youth, women and the Diaspora. We need the Diaspora to return and contribute to the building of the nation or if they cannot return to assist where they are. Our children have been deprived of the vitality of youth! From the day of birth our children have seen no peace, and we must concentrate on the development of youth in the next phase. Women, the “marginalized of the marginalized” must be given special attention in development of skills and income generating activities. Women will be effectively empowered through girl child education, pro-women government policies and above all income generating opportunities. Only when women are able to bring home a respectable income alongside their husbands will they become fully empowered and respected. Civil Society groups will also need to be empowered to participate effectively in all these initiatives and activities. (7) Emphasis on human resource development. In general, the SPLM shall give priority to human resource development as the most effective strategy for poverty eradication and economic development. The SPLM has already announced its policy of free universal Primary School education so that by 2015 all girls and boys of school going age do go to school, and by that time we should also have free Secondary School education. Other initiatives shall also be introduced for those beyond Primary School age, including adult and functional education and vocational training to develop skills. CONCLUSION: I want in closing to assure you all once more that there shall be enough room for all Southern Sudanese who wish to participate, and by way this assurance I often have quoted the Gospel of John 14 V 1-2. “Do not be worried and upset” Jesus told them. “Believe in God and believe also in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house, and I am going to prepare a place for you. I would not tell you this if it were not true”. So, I say to all Southerners that there will be many rooms in the GOSS and GONU, and all are welcome. In the legislature for example we shall have 135 members in the Central Parliament, 170 in the Southern parliament, and about 400 in the Parliaments of the ten Southern States; that alone is more than 700 legislators. In the Executive Southerners will have 10 full Ministers and at least 10 State Ministers in the GONU and about 20 Ministers in the GOSS and some 40 Ministers in the State Governments; these are more than 70 Ministers. Then you have the judiciary and civil service. And with the massive development we shall launch the private sector will be very lucrative and full of jobs. As you can see there will be enough room for every one; our problem will actually be lack of manpower. I want to conclude by assuring you that the SPLM will continue to be
steadfast, that the SPLM will continue to be a movement of the people and
for the people; the SPLM shall not betray your cause and trust as we have
not betrayed you over the last 22 years of struggle. The SPLM shall continue
its vision and ideals that it has sacrificed for over the last 21 years
and for which we have shed tears and blood. Again, on the occasion of this
special 22nd anniversary celebration, I once more congratulate you for
the CPA and salute our martyrs to whom this day belongs. I greet and congratulate
all the people of Sudan wherever you may be this anniversary day. I assure
you all that the Movement will be faithful and loyal to the objectives
of the struggle. The SPLM/SPLA will never betray the cause of our people,
and our track record is known to all. I wish you well as we begin the 23rd
Year of our struggle. God bless you all. SPLM Oye! SPLA Oye! New Sudan
Oye! Victory to the SPLM/SPLA and to the people of New Sudan!
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| NAIROBI, Jan 9, 2005 -- Sudan People's Liberation Army leader John
Garang has said the signing of a peace deal on 10 January opens the way
for united and pluralistic Sudan "in which all Sudanese are equally stakeholders".
Garang said the agreement provided for splitting the country if this could
not be achieved, but that his movement would work to preserve Sudan as
"a great nation that is voluntarily united in diversity".
John Garang The following is the text of Garang's speech at the signing ceremony in Nairobi on 9 January, broadcast live by Kenyan Nation TV; subheadings inserted editorially: Your Excellency President Mwai Kibaki, Your Excellency former President Daniel arap Moi, Your Excellencies heads of state and government, Your excellencies ambassadors and representatives of the international organizations, distinguished invited guests, ladies and gentlemen, compatriots, fellow countrymen and women, allow me at the outset to convey to you my best wishes for the new year. 2005 year of peace The year 2005 will mark the year of peace not only for the whole of Sudan but equally throughout our sub-region and Africa as a whole. On this joyous day and occasion I greet and salute the people of Sudan from Nimule in the far south to Halfa in the far north, and from Geneinah in the far west to Hamashkoreb and Port Sudan in the east. I greet and salute all the marginalized rural people in Sudan who have suffered in dignified silence for so long. I greet and salute all the farmers, workers and professionals who are the creators of wealth but who have no wealth. And who have seen their living conditions deteriorate over the years. I greet you on the occasion of this peace, which we have just signed, all the Sudanese women everywhere. Women in Sudan, as everywhere in the world, are the marginalized of the marginalized, whose suffering goes beyond description. The Sudanese rural woman, for example, gets up at five o'clock in the morning to walk five kilometres just to get five gallons of water after five hours' walk, spends another five hours working on the family farm and five more hours making the family meal and then she goes to sleep. I greet and salute all our students on this occasion of the peace agreement, all our youths who have borne the brunt of the 21 years of this war, and to whom the future belongs, and urge them to invest in their future and that of the nation in the post-conflict period. Compatriots, fellow countrymen and women, congratulations - Mabruk all mabruk alaykum. Your movement, the SPLM-SPLA, and the National Congress Party government have delivered to you a comprehensive peace agreement. A just and honourable peace which we have signed today and which you have all witnessed. This is the best Christmas and New Year's gift for the Sudanese people, to our region, and to Africa for 2005. Agreement signals "second republic of the new Sudan" With this peace agreement, we have ended the longest war in Africa - 39 years of two wars since August 1955 out of 50 years of our independence. And if we add the 11 years of Anyanya II, then Sudan had been at war within itself for 49 years, which is the whole of its independence period. With this peace agreement, the SPLM and the National Congress Party government have brought half a century of war to a dignified end - congratulations. With this peace agreement, there will be no more bombs falling from the sky on innocent children and women. Instead of the cries of children and the wailing of women and the pain of the last 21 years of war, peace will bless us once more with hearing the happy giggling of children and the enchanting ululation of women who are excited in happiness for one reason or another. At the political level this agreement affirms the right of self determination for the people of southern Sudan and the right of popular consultation for the people of the Nuba mountains and Blue Nile so that the unity of the Sudan becomes based on the free will of the people instead of on wars and the forced and false unity of the last 49 years. This peace agreement will change the Sudan for ever. Sudan cannot and will never be the same again as this peace agreement will engulf the country in democratic and fundamental transformations, instead of being engulfed in wars as it has always been for the last 184 years - since 1821, when our country was first invaded by outside powers and exposed to the ravages of the slave trade and predatory commerce of all sorts, and since before independence from 1955 in civil wars. This peace agreement coincides with Sudan's 49th independence celebrations. And I agree with what President Bashir said on 31 December [2004] in Naivasha, when we signed the last two documents of the comprehensive peace agreement - that Sudan's independence on 1 January 1956 was not complete because [word indistinct] south. The war we are ending today first broke out in Torit on 18 August 1955. Four months before independence. And so the south, like other marginalized parts of the Sudan were really not part of that independence. With this peace agreement we begin the process of achieving real independence by all Sudanese people and for all the Sudanese people. The signing of this comprehensive peace agreement thus marks the end of what I will correctly call the first republic of the whole Sudan that has lasted 49 years from 1 January 1956 to 31 December 2004, when we signed the last two agreements on comprehensive cease-fire and implementation modalities. And at a personal note, exactly 42 years to the date when I first left Sudan for the bush on 31 December 1962 to join the first war. I hope I will not go to the bush again. This peace agreement therefore signals the beginning of Sudan's second republic of the new Sudan. From here on Sudan for the first time will be a country voluntarily united in justice, honour and dignity for all its citizens regardless of their race, regardless of their religion, regardless of their gender or else if the country fails to rise to this challenge of moving away from the old Sudan to the new Sudan of free and equal citizens, then the union shall be dissolved amicably and peacefully through the right of self determination at the end the six years of the interim period. I call on the Sudanese people to join this peace agreement, to join the SPLM and the National Congress Party in the peace process, because this peace agreement belongs to them. I does not belong to John Garang or the SPLM leadership, it does not belong to [Vice-President] Ali Uthman Taha or President Al-Bashir or to the National Congress Party. This agreement belongs to all of the Sudan, to its neighbours, to Africa, to the Arab world and indeed to the rest of the world. That is why you see this big attendance today, because this peace belongs to all of them. Although the comprehensive peace agreement was negotiated by two parties as a matter of necessity and practicality in order to end the war in the first place, and now that the war is ended, I call on all the Sudanese people and their political forces to build consensus around this comprehensive peace agreement, and use it to end war in other parts of Sudan and to relaunch the Sudan to the promised land of the new Sudan of progress and equality, of opportunity for all Sudanese citizens without distinction. Tribute to "martyrs"; release of POWs Finally and last but not least, I salute all our martyrs and all wounded heroes on both sides. I salute and congratulate all officers, NCOs and soldiers on both sides of the conflict for their heroic sacrifices. I pay tribute and thank our civil population who provided the logistics for the war, especially those in the SPLM-administered areas, for without their contribution this comprehensive peace agreement would not have been possible. It is because of the role played by our civil population in the long war that we have invited some 50 chiefs and traditional leaders representing our civil society at the grassroots. We have also invited the SPLM military band to represent the SPLA rank and file. On this joyous occasion of the signing of the comprehensive peace agreement, as you will recall that the SPLA has always released prisoners of war, we have released so far more than 3,000 prisoners of war at various times over the last 21 years. I here as of today order the immediate release of all prisoners of war that are still under the custody and care of the SPLA. Moment for Tsunami victims It is fitting, as we celebrate this momentous historical landmark, to pause to remember the thousands of fellow human beings who recently perished in both Asia and Africa in one of the planet's worst natural disasters of the modern era. Our hearts go out in grief and solidarity to the peoples of south east Asia in this their hour of tragedy in the hands of a merciless earthquake and tsunamis. As we share the pain and suffering of our fellow human beings in all the countries that have been devastated by the earthquake and the accompanying tsunamis or tidal waves, we also urge the international community, after it has pledged so generously to help alleviate the suffering and rebuild shattered lives in the affected region, to spare some resources to help post-conflict Sudan recover and develop. We therefore look forward to a massive turn out of donors with their pledges at the prospective Oslo donors conference for Sudan which is scheduled soon. "An all-inclusive Sudanese state" Excellencies, compatriots, fellow citizens. In order to understand and appreciate the present historical moment of the signing of the Sudan comprehensive peace agreement, I beg your indulgence to allow me to talk briefly about the problem that we are solving now and to which [Ugandan] President [Yoweri] Museveni referred to before as the problem of people with the turbines and people with ostrich feathers. As I said before, Sudan has been at war within itself for the whole of 49 years of its independence. And as we end this war today, another serious one is intensifying in the western Darfur region while another threatens in eastern Sudan. Why? What is the problem? Why should a community subject itself to generations of war and suffering in so many parts of the country? In our view, the attempts by various Khartoum-based regimes since 1956 to build a monolithic Arab Islamic state with the exclusion of other parameters of the Sudanese diversity constitutes the fundamental problem of the Sudan and defines the Sudanese conflict. The Sudanese state hitherto has excluded the vast majority of the Sudanese people from governance and therefore their marginalization in the political, economic and social fields. This provoked resistance by the excluded. There have been wars and there continues to be wars in the Sudan simply because the majority of the Sudanese are not stakeholders in the governance. The solution to the fundamental problem of Sudan is to involve an all-inclusive Sudanese state which will uphold the new Sudan. A new political Sudanese dispensation in which all Sudanese are equally stakeholders irrespective of their religion, irrespective of their race, tribe or gender - and if this does not work, then to look for other solutions, such as splitting the country. But we believe that a new Sudan is possible for there are many people in northern Sudan who share with us in SPLM/A, including the National Congress Party, who believe in the universal ideals of humanity, the ideals of liberty, of freedom, justice and equality, of opportunity for all Sudanese citizens. As is the case in the south, the events in Darfur, eastern Sudan and elsewhere have made it clear that we must have an all-inclusive state at the national level and full devolution of power to the various regions of the Sudan, for otherwise it is unlikely that the country would stand a chance of remaining united. But this all-inclusive Sudanese state which we have called the new Sudan must have some basis, for example in history, that makes us one country or one nation. The question is whether there is the basis for the Sudan as a country, and my answer has also been yes, there is. That is, this affirmative answer to this question has guided us and sustained the SPLM for the last 21 years until today. For this purpose I have always wanted to go down the corridors of history and I want to do this very briefly. Again, begging your indulgence, and taking it for that matter - I am guerrilla, I take my time you see. Move forward with the momentum of 5,000 years My presentation, our presentation in the SPLM is that we, the Sudanese, are indeed a historical people and that the new Sudan has an anchor in history. If we cannot find an anchor in history, then we either create one or dissolve the union peacefully. Sometimes it is necessary to go back in order to gain momentum in order to go forward. President Museveni called it something in his language. That is why you see sheep, you see rams moving backward first when they fight. They gain momentum before they lock horns. Recently, in southeast Asia, it was noticed that the tragedy of the earthquake and the tsunamis. First, the sea receded back, and then came forward with devastating force. We very much need to do this exercise in the Sudan. To go back thousands of years so as to rediscover ourselves. Gain momentum and then move forward with the momentum of 5,000 years to propel ourselves and snatch ourselves into history once again. And we have a very long history indeed. Peoples and kingdoms have lived, thrived and disappeared in the geographical area that constitutes the present modern Sudan. Many people will be surprised that in the Bible, in the Old Testament, the Sudan was part of the Garden of Eden, where it is stated in Genesis Chapter 2, Verse 8 to 14, that the Garden of Eden was watered by four rivers. One of them is the White Nile, it is Pessian in the Bible. The one is the Gihon and there is a Gihon Hotel in Addis Ababa. It is the Blue Nile. And to the east by the Tigris and Euphrates. So the Garden of Eden was not a small vegetable garden. It was a vast piece of territory. My own village happens to be just east of the Nile. So I fall in the Garden of Eden. It will surprise many of you that the Prophet Moses was probably married to a Sudanese named Siphorah, as narrated in the book of Numbers. From the Biblical days, we move to the ancient Sudanese kingdoms of Awach, of Ritat, of Anu, of Maida, that are believed to be connected with the present day Dinka, Shiluk, Nuer, other Nilotic tribes and the peoples of central and western Sudan. And at the corridors of history we move to the Kingdom of Merowe [Arabic Marawi] that bequeathed an iron civilization to the rest of Africa. Merhawi got transformed into the Christian kingdoms of Nubia. Then followed the spread of Islam and Arab migrations into the Sudan and subsequent collapse of the last Nubian Christian kingdoms of Makuria, Alawa and Soba in 1504, followed by the rise on the etches of the Islamic Kingdom Sinnar, which was founded by the Fuinsh and Shiluk people. The rest of Sudanese history is familiar to all of us from the Islamic kingdoms of Sinar to the Teko Egyptian occupation, to the first Islamic Mahadisi state, to Anglo-Egyptian condominium to independence in 1956 and the Anyanya movement to 1955 to 1972 to the SPLM/SPLA in 1983, to the second Islamic state in the Sudan of Ingas, with which we negotiated from 1989 and to the comprehensive which we signed today. This is the history of the Sudan and this is how we got here. It has been a long journey of more than 5,000 years to reach Naivasha and Nyayo Stadium today. It is important to know and appreciate where we came from in order to better be able to chart the way forward with the momentum of historical force. That was Sudan in history. National unity through pluralism and democracy As for the contemporary Sudan, we have more than 500 different ethnic groups speaking more than 130 different languages. We have two major religions in the country - Islam and Christianity, and traditional African religious. Our contention in the SPLM/SPLA is that the Sudan belongs equally to all the peoples that now inhabit the country and its history, its diversity and richness is the common heritage of all Sudanese. The comprehensive peace agreement that we have signed today is based on this historical and contemporary objective realities of Sudan. And by implementing the provisions of the comprehensive peace agreement that we signed today, we (?evolve) an all-inclusive form of governance that ensures that all Sudanese are equally stakeholders irrespective of where they come from and this is what will keep our country together. Furthermore, by adapting and applying the form of governance and wealth-sharing arrangements stipulated in the comprehensive peace agreement to other parts of the country with similar afflictions as the south such as Darfur, eastern Sudan and other parts of the country, we can once again become a great nation that is voluntarily united in diversity rather than divided by diversity and forcibly kept under a coerced and fake unity. This is the context and the value of the comprehensive peace agreement we have signed today. It provides the Sudan with a real and perhaps the last opportunity to make a real paradigm shift from the old Sudan of exclusivity to the new Sudan of inclusivity achieved not through force but through the exercise of the right of self-determination. Viewed this way the right of self-determination, which is one of the cornerstones of the comprehensive peace agreement, is a blessing rather then curse as many northern Sudanese fear. I want to assure you that we will all work together with the National Congress Party and other political forces in the Sudan so that we develop a new paradigm so that we keep our country together. Excellencies, distinguished guests, compatriots, ladies and gentlemen, bear with me. I am almost finished. The transformation which shall be engendered by this agreement, which I have alluded to shall be reflected first and foremost in democratic (?mutation) and to which the SPLM is fully committed. Surely by democratic we do not mean return to the sham procedural democracy of the past, which was a camouflage for the perpetuation of vested interest. In that sham democracy civil rights were subject to the whims of rulers. The majority of Sudanese regions remained peripheral to the central power and was treated as an expendable quantum only to be manipulated through political trickery and double-dealing. The transformation envisaged in the comprehensive peace agreement puts an end to all that since it represents a political and socioeconomic paradigm shift which entails the recognition of political diversity by guaranteeing full freedom for political pluralism. The entrenchment of human rights and peoples' rights in the constitution, the upholding of the independence of the judiciary, including the creation of an inviolable constitutional court and commitment to the rule of law by the government and the governed, and the establishment of a truly independent and competent civil service at all levels of government. It also conceptualizes and seeks to realize a recreation of the legislature in a manner that shall ensure rigorous checks and balances and guarantees powers to the government of southern Sudan and to the states powers which can neither be withdrawn nor impaired by other centres of power. Eventually, the comprehensive peace agreement ordains that within a maximum of three to four years governance at all levels shall be mandated by the supreme will of the people through internationally monitored free and fair elections. Economic and social development Excellencies, distinguished guests, compatriots, ladies and gentlemen, the long war to which we have put an end to today impoverished our citizens and reduced our country with tremendous resources to destitution. Without claiming that the new economic paradigm shift, which I have alluded to, is the ultimate panacea for curing the nation's ills, it provides at least a vision and modalities to address the problems besetting the nation in the here and now - while I leave the world hereafter to those who claim to have divine qualifications. In southern Sudan and other war-affected areas, as well as in the slums of our major cities, the baseline from which we shall start development is shocking and I will not bore here with the statistics of the status of these parameters such as prevalence of child malnutrition, primary education, mortality rates among children, rate of maternal mortality, rate of births attended skilled health staff, access to improved water sources. These statistics in southern Sudan, in particular and other war-affected areas are among the worst in the world. To combat this pervasive and humiliating poverty and political disenfranchisement, a general policy framework has chartered out and published in a booklet entitled SPLM Strategic Framework for War to Peace Transition. In summary, the SPLM shall articulate and implement a social, political and economic development strategy and programmes that include the following highlights: First, the SPLM shall adopt an economic development paradigm that emphasizes growth through rural development and transformation of traditional agriculture that is integrated with agro-industries. We must transform the present subsistence traditional agriculture in southern Sudan and other areas through technological innovations, making agriculture the engine of growth. And agriculture as the engine of growth will literally be fuelled by oil - the building of dikes for flood control and canals and underground water development for irrigation will be priorities to guaranteeing crop production. Secondly, the SPLM will change the urban-based and centre of focus development paradigm in favour of rural and decentralized development. The SPLM vision, policy and slogan shall be to take the towns to people in the countryside rather than people to towns, where they end up in slums as happened in many countries with the consequent deterioration in their quality of life. Rural small town planning and rural electrification will therefore be priorities. Thirdly the SPLM shall emphasize and develop new ways of delivery of social services. As we move to the new era of peace, the people of Sudan, particularly the war-affected communities, face formidable social and economic problems and also tremendous opportunities. The major problems there require immediate attention fall in the areas of health, education and water. We must find new ways to rapidly and efficiently deliver these services. For example, constructing windmills all over rural Sudan to provide clean drinking water and build micro-dams for generating small scale hydro-electric power for rural towns as well as the use of solar, wind and bio-gas energy sources. Fourthly, the SPLM shall exert all efforts to build physical infrastructure - roads, rail and river transport and telecommunications. There has never been any tarmac road in the new Sudan since creation, since the days of Adam and Eve, and this is an area the size of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi put together. The SPLM's vision for transport infrastructure is at three levels - to develop regional linkages within southern Sudan and with the neighbours and with northern Sudan and to involve the state and local communities in this infrastructure building. Fifthly and finally, in terms of social and cultural parameters, the SPLM shall adopt the strategies and programmes that shall restore and achieve dignity of people of the Sudan through social and cultural empowerment. Programmes will include information and media, radio, TV, print, promotion of new Sudan art, songs, dances, theatre of new Sudan, sports, development of local languages and cultures by the various communities of the Sudan, archives of the struggle and modern history of Sudan, archaeology, antiquities and ancient history of Sudan, Africa and the Middle East so that we can find our rightful place in the world. "Building national consensus" Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, to conclude, the comprehensive peace agreement and safeguards, full compliance with the requirements of the agreement, the SPLM will work in partnership with the National Congress Party. The objectives of this partnership is to ensure a sincere implementation of the comprehensive peace agreement in both letter and spirit and to provide, within the parameters of this agreement, permanent solutions to the problems inherent in Sudan's cultural, social and political diversity. Failure to appreciate the wealth in diversity was another cause of national crisis. For diversity, viewed positively is a mutually [word indistinct] phenomenon and ultimately a source of national cohesion and strength. Viewed otherwise, that is as a source of dissimilarity or distinction, it shall lead inevitably to the ultimate disintegration of the country as threatens today and which at all costs we must avoid. Furthermore, the partnership does not mean abandonment of political allies by any of the two parties. However, this partnership, once safeguarded in the new political dispensation, shall in effect nurture the democratic transformation and political multiplicity, which by their very nature may lead to diverse alliances. But so long as those alliances are based on commitment to the letter and spirit of the peace agreements that will put an end to the longest war in Africa, alliances become assets not liabilities. It is our submission that political struggle in the Sudan shall henceforth translate into competing visions of peace, progress and development and never into the use of force or the threat of the use of force. The SPLM, ladies and gentlemen, will ensure that the new political dispensation is wide enough to accommodate all legitimate political and social forces in the country. It is therefore our hope to achieve popular consensus on those agreements. As the movement that has been fighting against the marginalization of others, we shall not tolerate the exclusion of anybody from this process. The parties to the comprehensive peace agreement share this conviction and we have included in the agreement inclusiveness. In this regard the SPLM will play its role at the national level to work with the National Congress Party and other political forces to ensure full inclusiveness. While the SPLM and the National Congress Party shall be major partners in the initial interim government unity, our understanding of partnership is well rooted in inclusiveness, which means to bring on board all political forces in the Sudan, chief among them the political parties within the National Congress Party umbrella and the political parties within the National Democratic Alliance, which we call upon to complete negotiations with the government of Sudan based on the Jeddah agreement that are holding negotiations in Cairo and so that they get their share in the government of national unity and participate and participate fully in all the national commissions stipulated in the comprehensive peace agreement, especially the national constitution review commission. Finally, on issues that concern southern Sudanese, I want to say a little on south-south dialogue. On building national consensus, the SPLM will also spearhead the south-south dialogue. This dialogue, above all, is to heal wounds and restore fraternity and mutual respect so as to create a healthier political environment that is accommodative all southern Sudanese political forces, both at the level of southern Sudan and at the national level. But south-south dialogue is not only about power. It is about all and (?enviable) democratic exercise based on mature and selfless political discourse among southern Sudanese with a view of galvanizing all our human material resources for the service of our people. Democracy, whether in the north or south, should no longer and solely be a struggle for power but rather as a competition on providing good governance, development and delivering social services for our people and restoring the dignity and wealth of every man and woman. Yet in terms of power-sharing in southern Sudan, I want to assure all that there will be enough room for everybody, including those who have not beenassociated with theSPLM/SPLA. Even those who for one reason or another were opposed or against the SPLM, there will room for everybody. I want in conclusion to quote, in terms of this inclusiveness, the gospel according to St John, that says in St John Chapter 14, Verse 1 and 2: Do not be worried and upset, Jesus told them, believe in God and believe also in me. There are many rooms in my father's house and I'm going to prepare a place for you. I would not say if it were not true. So I say to all southern Sudanese on the occasion of this signing of this comprehensive peace agreement, that there will be many rooms in an SPLM-based government in southern Sudan and all are welcome. I also want to assure southern Sudanese in general that the comprehensive peace agreement will not be dishonoured like other agreements that Able Aliao [phonetic] has written a book about entitled: Too Many Agreements Dishonoured. The biggest challenge will be implementation of the peace agreement but we, both the SPLM and the National Congress Party, are committed, fully committed to the implementation of this agreement. There are both external and internal guarantees, organic and external guarantees that will ensure the implementation of this agreement. I want also to assure the SPLA that the experience of Anyanya I will not repeat itself because there are many SPLA soldiers that are worried they will be left by peace. This regards the issue of funding of the armed forces. We solved the issue of funding of the armed adequately. The joint integrated units, component of the SPLA, shall be funded by the government of national unity, not as a separate army from the mother SPLM but as part and parcel of it with the same wage and living conditions. The mother SPLA, on the other hand, will be funded by the government of southern Sudan and the government of southern Sudan has been empowered by the comprehensive peace agreement to raise financial resources from both local and foreign sources and to seek international assistance for that purpose. So there is no reason for concern or alarm. As for those who in the Diaspora, I would like to address them and assure them that the government of southern Sudan as well as the government of national unity will their skills and I take the opportunity of this forum to appeal to all our Diaspora to return home and build our country. As I said before our house has many rooms and Diaspora are welcome to return home and fully participate in the development of southern Sudan, the two areas - Abiey and the whole of Sudan. Tributes and acknowledgements Last but not least, I would like to pay tribute to our fallen heroes and martyrs who sacrificed in order for us celebrate this day on both sides of the conflict. Those, ladies and gentlemen, are the objectives for whose achievements I have exerted all my faculties and energies and efforts, and for which we will cooperate and work together with the National Congress Party. We move in a new direction and achieve the cohesion and the unity of our people and the unity of our country. Finally, let me pay tribute and salute the courage of the party to reach this agreement and in particular President Umar Hasan al-Bashir and Ustadh Ali Uthman Taha, with whom I sat for 16 months and negotiated this agreement. I salute and congratulate them. I also congratulate the two delegations of the SPLM and the government of Sudan and of course Gen Sumbeiywo and before him Ambassador Daniel Mboya, who was the special envoy, also before them, Zachary Onyango, Bethwel Kiplagat, and foreign minister then Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka and now Minister [for Regional Cooperation John] Koech and other ministers in the Kenya government, who have contributed so much; and to the IGAD [Intergovernmental Authority on Development] envoys of the five countries of IGAD, the facilitators of IGAD, the secretariat. I thank them and congratulate them for guiding the peace process to this successful conclusion. I would also like to thank and commend the IGAD heads of state, ministers, peace envoys and indeed the populace who have been with us through thick and thin, guiding, advising, cajoling and sometimes threatening to abandon the process. They deserve praise. Our thanks go to them and also to the bravery of the people of east Africa, the Horn, the Arab world and the wider international community, who on numerous occasions either volunteered to bring peace to Sudan or did encourage in meaningful manners the ongoing peace process. In this connection, the Nigerian efforts of Abuja I and Abuja II, the joint Egyptian-Libyan initiative, the African Union and the Arab League efforts, who exerted efforts for post-conflict reconstruction. I must also mention a few of the very many names to thank for their contribution to the Sudan peace process, among them are eminent people like President Obasanjo, President Babangida of Nigeria, President Kaunda, Masire, Machel, Nujoma, Chissano, Rawlings, who is here with us today, Mandela of South Africa, Mubarak of Egypt, Qadhafi, Bouteflika, who is here with us today, Jimmy Carter, the late James Grant, and OLS, that has saved millions of lives since 1989, President Bush and his Secretary of State Colin Powell and his special envoy Senator Danforth and Andrew Natsos of USAID, both houses of the US Congress, Prime Minister Tony Blair and his envoys, ambassadors Allan Gulty and McFell, the UN secretary-general and his envoys, ambassadors Sahnun and Pronk, who are here, and a special friend of the Sudan peace process, the Norwegian Minister Hilder Johnson and finally, last but not least, the leaders of this region, led by then President Daniel arap Moi and now by President Mwai Kibaki, President Museveni, [Ethiopian] Prime Minister [Meles] Zenawi, [Eritrean] President [Isayas] Afewerki and the wananchi [citizens] of Kenya and east Africa mzima [as a whole]. And finally I pay tribute and thanks to my dear wife Rebecca and the wives of all my colleagues and comrades in the struggle for their patience and contributions, for without their help the bush would not have been bearable. My sincere thanks to all these people. I pay tribute finally to all the Sudanese people, to whom this peace belongs and I say to them and I say to them mobruk ol lekum [congratulations]. Thank you very much. Material from the BBC Monitoring Service.
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