Sudan peace deal 'at critical stage'

Britain led warnings over violence in Sudan as the UN Security Council extended the 13,500-strong UN peacekeeping mission there for a year.

Diplomats stressed the 2005 peace agreement that ended two decades of fighting is at “a critical stage”.

“The Comprehensive Peace Agreement ended one of Africa’s longest and bloodiest civil wars and remains the bedrock for peace and security in Sudan,” Britain’s UN Ambassador John Sawers told the council.

The unanimously-adopted resolution stresses the importance of “full and expeditious implementation” of the peace deal, noting that key issues remain unresolved including the north-south boundary and the future of oil-rich Abyei, just north of the disputed border.

US Ambassador Susan Rice called the agreement “vital to bringing lasting peace to the people of Sudan”.

The resolution stresses the council’s “firm commitment to the cause of peace and stability throughout Sudan and the region, noting the importance of the full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement ... and recognising that the CPA has reached a critical stage”.

Mr Sawers cited the “significant tests” that lie ahead: holding transparent parliamentary and presidential elections in February 2010, disarming and rehabilitating former combatants, developing effective security on the border areas, releasing the results of the national census, and conducting a referendum in January 2011 on whether South Sudan should become independent.

The civil war between ethnic African southerners and Sudan’s Arab-dominated government in the northern capital Khartoum was separate from the ongoing conflict in Sudan’s western Darfur region, now in its sixth year. It is also separate from an intermittent 10-year war between the government and rebels from the mountains of eastern Sudan that ended with a peace agreement in 2006.

In addition to calling for implementation of the north-south peace accord, yesterday’s resolution also urges all parties to implement “without delay” agreements on Darfur, the eastern Sudan peace deal, and the roadmap to settle the dispute over Abyei.

It also expresses concern for the health and welfare of civilians in Sudan and urges the government to ensure continuity of humanitarian assistance – a point the US, Britain and other council members cited in demanding that the government reverse its expulsion of 13 international aid organisations from Darfur in March.

“The expulsions affect not only the people of Darfur, but the delivery of humanitarian aid across the whole of the country, including in the three areas on the borders between north and south,” Mr Sawers said, expressing hope that the government will heed the calls from the council to allow the aid groups to return.