The Abyei Monitor

In what has been seen as a message to the ruling NCP party in the North, Salva Kiir, First Vice President of Sudan and President of Southern Sudan, on Thursday 18 June 2009, said that 'enemies of peace' are instigating chaos in Southern Sudan.

Kiir was referring to the continued clashes between civilians throughout Southern Sudan that has brought South Sudan more casualties and deaths than Western Darfur in recent months.  Because of the advanced weaponary held by those involved in the clashes, many have suspected outside involvement.

Kiir also has publicly aired grievences with the NCP over backing a newly formed political splinter party in the South called the SPLM Democratic Change (SPLM-DC), led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs for the GOSS and once leading personality in the SPLM, Dr. Lam Akol.  According to Kiir the NCP is supporting efforts to destabilize the ruling authority in South Sudan by backing this political party who has accused the SPLM of being politically 'bankrupt' and 'undemocratic.

Kiir denies the allegations of the SPLM-DC saying that his government in the South protects the liberties of democracy for the people of the South more than the Sudanese Government does in any other part of Sudan.  Kiir went on to dispute the census results of the nation which have given the South Sudan less than 30% of the total popuation of the nation, disrupting the chances of the South to recieve the portion of the nation's wealth that the two parties agreed on in 2005.  He went on to complain that the GOS has not given the GOSS its agreed upon share of oil revenues since peace had been established.

With regard to all of these issues that have arisen between the SPLM and the NCP, Kiir said that while he will not be the one to instigate a new war, if forced and attacked the people of the South will be able to defend themselves.  This shows the extent of the political war which has been going on between the governments of the North and the South of Sudan since the peace established under the CPA.

In recent months more people have died in tribal violence in South Sudan than have died in the war torn region of Darfur according to UN special representative for Sudan Ashraf Qazi.  South Sudan has been facing tribal conflicts that have claimed the lives of hundreds, displacing thousands.

Several militias were backed by the northern government to disrupt the stability and unity of the south during the long lasting civil war that claimed the lives of some 2 million people.  Southern Sudanese officials say that the wounds from inter ethnic conflicts have yet to be healed.

Peace and stability in Southern Sudan is vital for the upcomming elections in 2010 which will be a milestone in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement.  Yet Sothern Sudan's President Salva Kiir says that he anticipates the violence to worsen before the elections.  He blames the violence on elements that wish to prove that the South is incapable of maintaining stability with the new status of semi-autonomy.

The Nile Council of Ministers met in Kinshasa, DRC discussing the way forward to the treaties on the use of the Nile River waters.  The member states included Egypt, Sudan, Burundi, DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

Sudan and Egypt hoped for "the historical rights and uses" of the river to be recognized by the council of Nile Valley nations, ensuring them their majority use of the waters of the river.  As the north Sudan and Egypt do not have any other major water sources, the use of the River Nile waters has been a key to the development of the nations, however some would argue that this has come only through the sacrifice of other nations in the Nile River Basin.

The other ministers in this council did not agree on the provision of these rights to Sudan and Egypt, and rather promoted development of extensive irrigation projects in Ethiopia and Tanzania  The Sudanese minister left pre-maturely only minutes into the proceedings weakening the stance of Egypt and Sudan.

Issues of water security are at the center of the development and reconciliation efforts in Sudan as water is a basic resource that all people have a right to be provided. The rights to the waters of the Nile River is also an issue that is central to the development of the broader region.

Sudanese former president Ga'afar Muhammad Nimeiry died today, Saturday May 30th at the age of 79.  The former Sudanese leader came to power in 1969 ousting Ismail al-Azhari.

His regime was at the forefront of many changes in the Sudanese nation.  He signed the Addis Ababa Aggreement in 1972 bringing peace to Sudan after the first civil war.  Then after certain breaches of the peace aggreement, which were accompanied by an imposition of Sharia Islamic law in Sudan, the country was plunged back into war.

The former president was said to be a friend of the West and was one of the few Arab leaders to support Egypt's peace agreement with Israel.

Nimeiry was ousted in a coup a quarter of a century ago and sent into exile in Cairo. This exile was broken by Omar al-Bashir who invited the former president back to Sudan in 1999.

Amidst the ongoing debate among high and low ranks in Sudan around whether the governments of North and South should remain united or be divided into two nations, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), known for its rebellion in Darfur, has been discussing the idea of a confederation between North and South.

This confederation would consist of two largely independent nations with a central authority serving as a sort of marriage between the two nations in much the same way the the European Union unites the various nations of Western Europe.   This central authority would take responsiblity of areas where there is mutual interest between North and South.

The aim of the confederation is to provide an arena where the mutual interest of both regions, including economic, security, and developmental concerns, that will be given attention by both the government of the North and the government of the South.

This idea resembles the attempt of the JEM to come to some understanding around the referendum of 2011 that will be in the mutual interest of North and South.  It is not the first time that the idea of confederation has appeared.  John Garang proposed the idea of confederation in the Naivasha Negotiations of 2005 and Malik Agar, Deputy Chairman of the SPLM proposed a similar idea in January 2008.  The players active in this latest proposal for confederation believe that now is a more appropriate time to promote the idea and anticipate greater success.