From sudaneseonline.com
Article by Akot Marial,
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Feb 10, 2009 - 9:57:11 AM
There is no doubt that the current atmosphere in Sudan is a trying times for all of us in the Sudan. And it will be a fatal mistake if our leaders in the government of National Unity ( GoNU) do not shun or brush aside their differences regardless of their party affiliations, religion or race and come into consensus to forge a common ground to address any conuterproductive that might follow in the aftermath of ICC arrest warrant for President Bashir.
Sudan is at crossroads, considering the fact that Al Bashir indictment have come in a difficult time when the Country is preparing for first ever democratic election schedule mid this year of which president Bashir is a flag-bearer for the (NCP) to contest with an SPLM candidate in the run off to this year general election, while Comprehensive Peace Agreement ( CPA) that was signed between the Sudan ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) in 2005 in the Kenyan Capital Nairobi, to end Africa longest Civil war which had claims 2.2 million lives and displaced thousands of others is staggering in the implementation modalities and facing a looming threat from some luminaries in the NCP who are conspiring to impede CPA should an arrest warrant be issued against president Bashir. not knowing that any attempt to abrogate CPA would fuss and cause timidity that will plague Sudan to slide back to the brink of
another civil war and disintegration away from our impetuous quest of building a New Sudan in the context with late hero John Garang's vision a New Sudan which is founded on justice, equality and the advancement of human rights and fundamental freedoms and assures multi-partism, a Sudan that is an all embracing homeland where religions and cultures are sources of strength, harmony and inspiration. Those NCP officials who are outspoken and misleading the public of imminent denouncement of the CPA in the face value of ICC issuance of arrest warrant for Al Bashir should reflects back on John Garang's speech during the Peace signing ceremony in 2005, when he categorically stated that " this Peace agreement the (CPA) does not belong to Ali Osman Taha, John Garang or to president Bashir but to the people of Sudan" another guiding principle to prove their lame duck and malice denunciation on the CPA is the Article 60 (3) of the Interim National Constitution
of the Republic of the Sudan that in the event of conviction of the president of the Republic in accordance with sub-Article (2) he/she shall be deemed to have forfeited his/her office.:
Vacancy of the Office of the president before elections
66. Should the office of president of the Republic fall vacant before elections:
(a) The functions of the president of the Republic shall be assumed by a presidential Council comprising of the Speaker of the National Assembly and two vice presidents,
(b) The Speaker of the National Assembly shall be the chairperson to the presidential Council,
(C) The presidential Council shall take its decisions by consensus,
(d) The vice president shall be commander –in-in chief of the Sudan Armed Forces,
(e) Notwithstanding Article (52) above or any other provision in the National Constitution, the office of the president shall be filled by the nominee of the National Congress Party within two weeks of the occurrence of such vacancy. All these and much more are legal framework which prove that the SPLM SG Pagan Amum's was correct in his remarks when he reiterated that "without president Bashir CPA would just be fine." Unless there is any other ulterior-motives or evil plans behind NCP slogans to deliberately and ostensibly chuck the CPA as was the case with abrogation of Addis Ababa accord in 1972 and other too many agreements signed and dishonored in Sudan.
I urge all my fellow South Sudanese in all walks of life to put aside our inner grudges and to refrain from all sectarian divisions and to rally behind our leaders in readiness of defending the cause of South Sudan and that of the marginalized areas of Nuba Mountain, Abyei and Southern Blue Nile and to halt this formidable obstacles of NCP skepticism of jeopardizing the CPA, This is a farce to place the Sudan Peace Deal (CPA) in the midst of tumult. All attempts must be deploy to save CPA from slipping through our fingers. If all the fronts of bringing the Sudan Peace Deal back on track have failed, we will have no choice but to back our leaders in South Sudan in seeking support from the International community, IGAD Countries, AU, EU and Arab League to back them in announcing the Unilateral Declaration of the Independent of South Sudan (UDISS), as Democratic, Republic, and Sovereign State.
Akot Marial, Holds BA in Human Resource Management and is a Student of Economics and Political Science Cairo University. He can be reach on akotmarial@yahoo.com
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