Resolve

The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) has suspended its involvement in the national unity government in Khartoum until its northern partners meet a long list of demands. The SPLM has accused Khartoum of failing to implement parts of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the 21-year civil war. These especially include boundary demarcations and the redeployment of northern troops from the south. South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir warned recently there could be a return to war if the deal was not respected. Last week, U.S. envoy to Sudan, Andrew Natsios, said that North-South relations had deteriorated into a “poisonous” political atmosphere. The Bush Administration had once hailed the CPA as one of its greatest achievements. This development, especially if the CPA collapses, could have devastating consequences for northern Uganda. Read more at The Monitor.

Meanwhile, today the International Crisis Group released a new report on southern Sudan, urging the international community to re-engage on implementation of the CPA. They write, Mounting tensions in the oil-rich Abyei region are the most dangerous threat to reignite that war…The ruling National Congress Party is violating the CPA by refusing the ‘final and binding’ ruling of the Abyei Boundary Commission, leaving an administrative and political vacuum.” Read the full report here.