باقان أموم يتهم المؤتمر الوطني بمحاولة إبتزاز حوافز من إدارة أوباما

Quote: Sudanese accused of trying to 'extort' U.S The leaders of northern Sudan are trying to "extort" incentives from the Obama administration in exchange for holding an on-time referendum on the fate of Abyei, a senior southern Sudanese leader said ahead of a key meeting to break an impasse over the oil-rich province. In an interview with The Washington Times on Saturday, Pagan Amum, secretary general of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), accused Sudanese President Omar Bashir's National Congress Party (NCP) of adopting a "pirate's mentality." "The NCP is trying to extort from America and Southern Sudan," Mr. Amum said. According to terms of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), Sudan must hold two referendums on Jan. 9 - one to determine whether the south will secede, the other to give the people of Abyei the choice to go with the south if it breaks away, as is widely expected. Leaders from the north and south are at loggerheads over Abyei issues that include distribution of oil revenue, demarcation of borders, security and citizenship rights. Lt. Gen. Bashir and Salva Kiir, president of the semi-autonomous government of Southern Sudan, are scheduled to hold talks on Abyei on Monday. Western officials are concerned that the Abyei referendum will not be held on time. "The referendum [on Abyei] is being held hostage by the NCP. They are demanding some ransom from the United States of America and from the south," Mr. Amum said. The Obama administration has offered to take Sudan off a State Department list of state sponsors of terrorism as early as July if the Sudanese government holds a credible and on-time referendum on southern independence and implements all post-referendum agreements. Removal from the terrorism list has been a long-standing demand of Gen. Bashir's government.