Kiir: a road map for the coming period

Q: What are the most important political issues your government will focus on in the coming period?

Read also Pascal Ladu's article about the "Constitutional review committee under fire"

A: The first step we took was to meet with all Southern political forces, because since the war we had different roles. The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) [the political wing of the Sudan People's Liberation Army - SPLA - and the South's dominant political party] was fighting while they were working at home. All political parties were included in the [2005] Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), but since they lost in the last elections [in April 2010], they have made themselves scarce. Now it is time for all of us to sit down and draw a road map for the coming period. The constitutional review is among the many crucial issues to be tackled. Building a country is a complicated process, this is why we want all Southern political parties to form one united force, so that we do not hinder our own advance.

Q: What about the outstanding issues with the Northern national government?

A: We are still holding talks with the National Congress Party (NCP) [Sudan's ruling party] concerning all crucial outstanding issues. We have not yet come to resolve issues of citizenship, external debts and the sanctions on Sudan. In addition, issues including Sudan's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism [by the United States' government] and the complex issue of [a post-secession sharing of revenues] oil are in the discussion phase.

For more background information download "Sudan - Negotiating Southern Independence" by the German Institute for International and Security Affairs

The stand the NCP is taking on the issue of nationality is tough, as it refuses to establish a system of dual citizenship, while we at the SPLM think that the Sudanese people have been living together for a long time. There are Southerners who want to stay in the North and vice versa. We say that the Northerners, who have been in the South and who wish to remain there, are considered Southern citizens, and if they choose so, they can receive the Southern citizenship, in addition to their Northern one. The NCP, however, rejects this proposal.  

Another issue we still need to talk about relates to external debts. We will as well help in lifting the sanctions imposed on the country and in taking Sudan's name off the terrorist list. The Darfur problem [an ongoing conflict in the West of Sudan, entirely separate from the past North-South civil war], which has resulted in President al-Bashir being indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, will have to be resolved. If we achieve peace in Darfur, then the Criminal Court's case will be dropped. The Abyei question [a disputed region on the North-South border] is as well yet to be answered, in addition to the [wider] border issue between the North and the South. Specialized committees have been assigned to deal with each of these issues.

Q: Do you not think, Mr. President, that the issue of Abyei may spark another war?

The people of Abyei celebrating the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration.          UN Photo by Tim McKulka

A: We do not want war again, the NCP and the Sudanese army are the ones who want war. The Abyei issue was resolved in Naivasha and then by the Commission of Experts, which was rejected by the Northern government, and then [by the Permanent Court of Arbitration] in The Hague. The international tribunal drew a map clearly determining these areas belong to the Dinka Ngok [a Southern ethnic group] and not to the Misseriya [Northern nomads backed by the NCP]. The NCP however wants to establish a right of the Misseriya over these lands by force. The fact that the Misseriya come to these areas during the summer season is not a reason to assign this land to them. They as well reach Warrap, Northern Bahr el Ghazal and the Unity State [other areas of Southern Sudan]. There are other tribes from the White Nile, Sennar and the Blue Nile, which reach the upper parts of the Nile. Why does the NCP want to give land to only one tribe and not to all the others? This way they can reconquer the South through the nomads. This is the plan of the North. 

Misseriya women and children in Abyei -    UN Photo by Fred Noy

I told the Misseriya that this land belongs to the Dinka. However, we are aware of their hardships, as they have not received any support from any government in the North. We are ready to help in developing the region from [our] own money - building schools, hospitals and roads - and we will guarantee the protection of their rights in their summer pastures. This is not limited to the Misseriya alone, but to all other pastoral tribes.   

In spite of all this, we have not yet come to agree on a resolution for the Abyei issue. There has to be a third party involved. The Hague Court gave its judgment, but the NCP refused to abide by it. This is why the presence of the United Nations (UN) is essential, in order to monitor any violations committed in the area.

Q: We heard that the transitional period could be extended?

A: The transitional period will not be extended and it will expire on 8 July 2011.

Q: Will there be new elections after the transition period?

A: Our government [in the South] was elected to serve for five years, our first year ending in May. We still have four years to spend in office. We will sit down with all Southern parties and agree on the transitional period, and perhaps there will be no elections, as we already had elections a year ago and although these parties were not elected, they still took part in the whole process.

Civilians in Yambio displaced by LRA attacks UN Photo by Tim McKulka

Q: What are the measures to be taken by your government concerning the rebel Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)?

A: I do not know the whereabouts of the LRA. You should maybe ask the people who sit in Khartoum, as they are the ones supporting them. What we will do concerning the LRA is to make them leave the Southern territories, either back to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, or to the South of Darfur.  

Q: We heard that you, Mr. President, will be stepping down from power after the independence of the South?

A: I work according to the law. For example, if independence does not come on 9 July 2011, and was to come only in five years, I would keep my position as I was elected for a full term. According to the constitution, I as well have the right to run again if I so desire. The transition period defined independence for July 9, after which I am to remain in my position for four years and no one has the right to ask me to step down, unless this is my own decision.

Update by the Small Arms Survey on "Emerging Armed Groups and Militias"

Q: You accused Khartoum of supporting those rebelling against the SPLA. Have you communicated your accusations formally when you met officials here? You have as well mentioned that there are certain government officials whom your accusations particularly target, but you have not yet divulged their names.

A: We are, with Khartoum, one government, and even if we know who is causing trouble in the South, revealing their names in the media is not yet due. However, when we meet them, we tell them straight about their deeds, and we as well [will] inform the President [al-Bashir] about the elements in his government, disrupting peace in the South.  

Q: How do you, Your Excellency Mr. President, view the North after the separation?

The late Dr. John Garang and Omar al-Bashir. Photo by: UN Evan Schneider

A: Sudan is an old state which has won its independence a long time ago. The experience of governance in the country is successful. If it were not for the successive rulers, most of the problems Sudan suffers from now would not have occurred. I do not want to blame those currently in power because they ruled in a time of war and have struggled to stop the violence and to establish peace. They have to be given credit for that, although they have failed in other aspects. We cannot blame them because the country is not stable, I do not want to hold them responsible for the mistakes made in Sudan.

Q: You have invited the rebels to dialogue but they have not responded. You have as well issued a general amnesty for all those willing to engage in dialogue. What other strategies will your government follow with them?

A: We will continue to call for peace instead of war. Opponents of peace do not do so because they are stronger than the Southern government, but because of their 'friends' who support them with weapons. These 'friends' are the ones pushing them to refuse dialogue with us. We tell them, as Southerners, to leave all those actions behind and to come help us work for peace. If they do not respond to the amnesty, we will know how to act.

Q: Have you discussed your accusations that the Khartoum government supports rebels in the joint committees both sides work through?

A: We discussed it a lot with them and they do not deny their support of the militias. Helicopters carrying supplies and support to the militias were at the airport marked with Sudan Air. The carrying of ammunition and fighters was stopped.
 

Listen to Marvis Birungi's radio piece on the issue: "Southern Sudan still immune to the wind of change"

Q: The region is witnessing dramatic developments and changes after what happened in Tunisia and Egypt - do you not fear, Mr. President, that the infection will be transmitted to you?

A: There is an important difference between us and Egypt or Tunisia. [Hosni] Mubarak had been in power for 30 years [in Egypt] and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali for 23 years [in Tunisia]. The reasons that prompted the uprising in the two countries are different from what concerns the citizens of Southern Sudan. It is of course not confined to Egypt and Tunisia, the events are now spreading to Libya, Bahrain and Iran. As for us, we already had a war. Southerners, after independence, will have to watch how the government is working to improve their lives. If we work for more stability and the people go out to protest, it will neither be realistic nor honest, but rather it will aim to obstruct work and cause instability.

UNMIS feature story: "A guarded leap forward" in Southern Kordofan

Q: Are you not afraid of the NCP evading the Southern Kordofan protocol [a state whose status was left open by the CPA]?

A: There should not be any problem from that side, as the convention is international and the whole world has been witness to it. Even if the South is absent after July, the people of Southern Kordofan have the right to organize the Popular Consultation and choose the system of governance they see fit. The same applies to Blue Nile [another border state whose status was left open by the CPA].

Young SLA rebels in Darfur - UN Photo by Fred Noy

Q: You are accused of supporting and harboring Darfur rebels?

A: Militias kill citizens of the South, even if we had weapons we would give them to the Southern citizens instead of sending them to Darfur. The truth is that there are Darfuris present in Juba. If you go to the University of Juba, you will find students from Darfur, as is the case with Darfuri merchants in markets throughout the South. I asked President al-Bashir if those were the rebels in question. I added that we can expel them, by force if necessary, but they would have to be expelled from all Northern states first. He answered that those were innocent citizens who should not be harassed. I said then, why do you accuse us of harboring and supporting the rebels from Darfur? And once more: where would we get the armaments from? The North, however, has an arms factory and gives weapons to those threatening the stability of the South.

Q: Do you not think, Mr. President, that the secession of the South is a betrayal of what was advocated by the SPLM movement and by Dr. John Garang [former leader of the SPLM killed in a helicopter crash in 2005]?

A: Evidently I cannot dance to the secession of the South, but we did something tangible. The second thing is that I do not hold any spark of anger in my heart towards the Northerners or the government in the North, because of the bitter war they fought in the South, with all its terrible aspects. I have already talked to the Southerners from the church's platform and invited them to forgive the Northerners, as the war has ended and the North recognized the state of the South. Therefore, we have to forget the past.