TEXT: Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit Message On The Occasion of His Arrival in Juba From Visit to USA

Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit Message On The Occasion of His Arrival in Juba From Visit to USA

NOVEMBER 19, 2007

Your Excellency, Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon, Vice President of the Government of Southern Sudan, Honourable James Wani Igga, Speaker of the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly, Members of the SPLM Interim Political Bureau (IPB), Members of INC and Leaders of all Political Parties, Honourable Advisors to the President of the Government of Southern Sudan, Honourable Ministers of the Government of Southern Sudan, Honourable Members of the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly, Distinguished Members of the Diplomatic Community and International Agencies in Juba, My Fellow Citizens, Youth and Women of Juba Town and Central Equatoria State, Compatriots, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I salute you all in the name of our struggle for peace and tranquility in our country. Before I share with you my brief message, I take this opportunity to invite you to observe a moment of silence in memory of our great leader, Comrade Dr. John Garang De Mabior and all our fallen heroes and heroines including the officers whom we recently lost in Yambio!

Fellow Citizens, Since the signing of the Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement and other peace agreements, the Sudan has been and is on its rising tide for prosperity in the region and the world at large with its booming economy and oil resources. There is now peace all over Sudan except Darfur and we have succeeded to establish new institutions of governance at all levels of governments based on the provisions of the CPA. As we all now know, with the CPA Sudan has changed and is changing everyday for better. We have now initiated a process for the unification of the Darfurian Movements with the aim of achieving comprehensive peace in Darfur so as to bring to an end one of the world's greatest catastrophic wars. We are about to reach a comprehensive peace in Northern Uganda as part of our efforts to contribute to regional stability and peace. We will reinforce our efforts to continue to normalise relations with the neighbours and the international community based on Sudan's new foreign policy as per CPA.

Today, my message to you is short and clear - the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) is committed to peace and will continue to honour the CPA and other peace agreements and work for their complete implementation. The SPLM under my leadership will not and shall not take people back to war. Never and we will not let you down! I urge you all Sudanese people in all parts of the Sudan to join me in singing the chorus of "No to War! Bravo to Peace!" We will not allow any opportunity to those individuals who are agitating for war as an easy means of phasing out the CPA.

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Allow me now to brief you on the current political crisis in our country. The decision that the SPLM Interim Political Bureau (IPB) took to suspend our participation in the Government of National Unity (GONU) was based on thorough and in depth analysis and deliberations on our partnership with NCP. The behaviour and attitude of NCP towards the implementation of CPA clearly proved beyond any doubt their lack of political will to implement CPA but instead intended to dishonour it like other peace agreements.

I salute you all who have turned up today and those who supported the decision of the SPLM leadership from the day we suspended our participation in GONU.

Our decision has not only awakened the nation and peace loving countries but it has also triggered national debate on key strategic issues such as the future of Sudan, basic rights and fundamental freedoms and democratic transformation.

Fellow Citizens, The SPLM and I have been agonizing for long over the deliberate intention of NCP to kill the CPA and dishonour our Interim National Constitution (INC) as basis for our political partnership. The decision of the SPLM Leadership is nothing but to speed up and reinvigorate the implementation of CPA and it has identified a number of critical provisions of CPA that must be resolved before January 9th, 2008. These are:

1. Abyei Protocol,
2. Redeployment of forces,
3. Demarcation of North-South Border,
4. Population Census,
5. Lack of transparency in oil sector management,
6. Democratic transformation and the rule of law,
7. National Reconciliation and Healing process.

After failing to resolve these outstanding issues within the mechanisms provided for in the CPA and partnership with the NCP, the SPLM IPB resolved to enlighten the public, political parties and send delegations to brief regional and international witnesses to the CPA.

I equally visited the United States of America and Kenya so as to mobilise Presidents Bush, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and President Kibaki for peace and not war. Therefore there is nothing of conspiracy about these missions. We carried out these visits because of our interest for peace and stability in order to avoid confrontation and a reverse to war. During our visit, we have succeeded to rally the international community to refocus on the CPA, Darfur peace process, Northern Uganda Peace Talks and development assistance to realise peace dividends for the war affected areas. The issues raised by the SPLM are key provisions in the implementation of CPA and we have discussed them in the Presidency before we travelled on our foreign missions. We agreed to resolve these issues as soon as we return from our trips abroad and that is why we formed a six persons committee to work out details and basis for decisions and actions to be taken by the Presidency.

There is nothing new outside the CPA that the SPLM IPB has raised that would lead to confrontation and/or be subjected to propaganda campaign.

Distinguished Citizens, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to turn to the reactions made by our partners in peace, the NCP regarding my visit to USA. For those of you who have been following the media in the last two weeks, the NCP and its leadership have been doing nothing but mobilizing for war. I am less mindful about all the sorts of accusations labelled on me and the SPLM but I am rather more concerned about what such false accusations can lead to? A critical examination of the media language by the NCP in Khartoum and in the country is nothing but a process of preparing ground to declare war. The recent statement attributed to President Bashir on ABC report is uncalled for as the Abyei Protocol is not only part and parcel of CPA but an integral part of our INC. Asking the ABC experts to dissolve the report and drink it is tantamount to saying the same about the CPA and INC. I hope these words did not come from my Brother President Bashir but part of media propaganda.

Let us be reminded that nobody in this country has the monopoly of war neither should any type and amount of weapons threaten anybody because weapons alone do not fight by themselves. Let those who have not tested war dram for it but not us in the SPLM as our people have suffered a great deal during war and it is our responsibility now to compensate them for what they have lost. We will not mobilize the people again for war but urge them to join us in our new struggle for development, reconstruction and provision of basic services. Both of us (SPLM and NCP) have tried war and several parts of the country have tried it but all ended up without victory except peaceful settlement.

My fellow citizens, It is therefore surprising that my visit to USA has created such tension and anxiety in Khartoum even when my mission has been for the mobilization of friends and peace-loving countries to support the implementation of CPA. I hope that such reaction is not orchestrated to justify the fact that some members of the NCP leadership have been visiting Islamic and Arab countries where they concluded agreements on huge and advanced military hardware and equipment instead of preaching peace in these countries. Instead of being worried about those who are building up their military capability, some of our friends in Khartoum are paradoxically paranoid by my peace mission to USA. Time will prove our deeds and intensions towards peace in our country right or wrong.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to reiterate that the SPLM will not and will never ever take anybody to war again in the Sudan; however, we reserve the right to self-defence. I urge all Sudanese throughout the country not to be dragged into war again by anybody.

I specifically appeal to all Sudanese women to shun any calls for war because God has blessed you with children not to be used as tools for sustaining selfish individual power. I humbly appeal to the Sudanese youth, men and women not to be taken for granted by any political party in the country as tools for agitation and for war. I therefore strongly urge all Sudanese citizens to stand for peace and in order to achieve this; we must stand behind the CPA to be implemented to the letter.

My Fellow Citizens, I call upon all political forces in the country and the civil society to put the interest of our people and the nation first in the search for permanent peace and stability as provided for in the CPA. Please watch out against forces of disunity and war mongering. In peace we all gain in war we all loose! I specifically call upon the National Democratic Alliance as one of our strategic peace allies to live up to their commitment to the CPA and other peace agreements and to join the Sudanese people in guarding against all attempts and tendencies to reverse to war.

My special message to the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Joint Integrated Units (JIUs) not to loose sight of their national duty but direct their capabilities to defending national sovereignty and not to be lured to attend to narrow individual interest.

This is your time to show the Sudanese citizens your patriotism, non-partisanship and commitment to national development and prosperity. I call upon you all to protect the peace and stability of the country. To the region and the international community, I appreciate your consistent attention to the maintenance of peace not only in the Sudan but the region as a whole. Besides Darfur, the regions of the Greater Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes are fragile and characterized by conflicts ranging from Eritrea and Ethiopia to Somalia on the one hand and tensions in Chad, Central Africa Republic to D.R. Congo on the other. Southern Sudan and Sudan as a whole is now the epicentre of peace and any reversal to war will erupt into a regional disaster that will again add another burden to the international community. I therefore call upon IGAD countries, the IGAD Partners Forum (IPF), the African Union (AU), the Arab League, the European Union (EU) and the United Nations to keep their eyes on the CPA and commit their counsel to maintaining peace and stability in the Sudan and the region.

I would like to assure you that the SPLM is even more united today than ever before. I caution those prophets of doom who are wishing and counting their political fortunes on an expected SPLM division and factionalism. What the CPA has brought can never be reversed - not only has it manifested peace dividends to our people in Southern Sudan, Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile States but it has also made Sudanese of all walks of life experience true peace since independence. Once more I urge all peace loving Sudanese countrywide to uphold and guard against the enemies of peace and its spoilers. I urge all Sudanese citizens to reject war and all its characteristics. I sincerely appeal to you for unity and determination for peace. On this note, I strongly condemn those who are responsible for the recent killing of our three officers in Yambio.

As I have already mentioned in my earlier message, those who carried out the atrocities should be brought to books and be subjected to the due process of the law. I seize this opportunity to call upon all Sudanese to remain calm and to respect one another as peace loving people and to respect as well all foreigners living in our country. My message to NCP and its leadership is to commit itself to the full implementation of the CPA and respect of our Interim National Constitution and not to let our people down again in their genuine desire for peace and stability. Our people and the international community are watching us and we have moral obligation and duty to deliver peace and not war again as we have had enough of it.

Finally, I would also like to warn you to be aware of media provocations and misleading signals. Let's all go home and continue with business as usual but remain vigilant against the enemies of peace.

Long live CPA, Long live peace and development, Long live to the Sudanese people, Long live freedom, justice and democracy! Thank you and may God bless you always!



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