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Southern Sudanese Insist on Self-Determination For Peace
KHARTOUM, July 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - An Egyptian-Libyan peace bid for Sudan is regarded as weak because it ignores self-determination for the south as well as ties between state and religion, an official for the Khartoum-appointed administration in the south said in remarks published Wednesday.
"I strongly feel that any initiative aimed at resolving the Sudanese issue cannot succeed fully if the problem of the south is not addressed," Vice-Chairman of the South Sudan Coordination Council (SSCC), Theophilus Ochang, was quoted as saying by the independent Khartoum Monitor newspaper.
Ochang, whose SSCC oversees the administration of Sudan's 10 southern provinces, complained that the Egyptian-Libyan initiative ignores the right to self-determination and fails to identify the relationship between religion and the state.
The plan, which includes calls for a transitional government in Khartoum and a plural democracy, seeks to end an 18-year war between rebels in the mainly animist and Christian south against successive Arab and Muslim governments in the north.
The plan was sent earlier this month to the Sudanese government, and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), an umbrella movement for southern and northern rebel groups, as well as to the Umma, a popular opposition party.
They have all accepted it, though the NDA, particularly the southern rebels in the Sudan People's Liberation Army, have demanded that any peace process include the principle of self-determination.
The NDA said it was willing to discuss this and other key principles at a peace conference, which Egypt said it is now trying to arrange with the government, the NDA and the Umma.
Ochang said that despite his misgivings, Sudan welcomes any initiative from anybody to "solve the country's chronic problem."
He urged all the southern political parties and factions to settle their differences first, before working towards agreement with the north.
All southerners, whether pro-government or opposition, demand self-determination for the south, a principle backed by Khartoum and the northern opposition, but adamantly opposed by Egypt and Libya, observers say.
Though it has not spelled out the reasons for its opposition, the Egyptian government is believed to fear having less control over shared water resources, if another state is formed along the Nile River.
Libya has said that self-determination could lead to the formation of yet another African state, which would only dilute the idea of African unity it is championing.
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