يا "واصل" إذا كنت فعلا صحفى وتتعامل بمهنية إحترافية لماذ لم تنقل مؤتمر غرايشن الصحفى فى واشنطن!

Click to learn more... We will work with the Government of Southern Sudan to bring about these changes. And we will try to work with them to quickly come up with solutions so we can stop this trend. Because as you know, there’s been already roughly 2,500 people killed in a year. That’s much too much, and we need to stop this right now. Let me just – I forgot the second part of your question. It was about the referendum, whether I think it will take place? I believe that the referenda will take place. I believe that right now I see political will. I see cooperation and I see continued commitment on both sides to have this take place. One important step that must take place first is the election. We believe that the election is a very important piece of implementation of the CPA that demonstrates the spirit and the letter of the CPA, that brings about a political transformation and a democratization process that is critical. We are very encouraged that almost 79 percent of the people of Sudan registered to vote; that’s four out of five people of the 20 million eligible voters, 16 million came out to register. That’s a tremendous thing, and we believe that we should encourage that kind of participation in the democratic process. We believe it’s important in the election to have proper administration logistics, that we get the adequate voter education out there that we have security and transparent processes. Because it is these same processes that will be used for the election that will be required to ensure that we have a credible referenda, both in Abyei and in Southern Sudan. And we need a credible referenda so that, when it is complete, the people of Southern Sudan and Abyei will be able to say, “Yes, my will was demonstrated in my ballot, and that ballot has been accepted.” The people of the North will say, “Yes, these people from these regions demonstrated their will, and we’ll honor that.” And the international community will say, “Yes, this was a credible referenda and we will honor the results and support the decision of the people.” That’s what we’re trying to achieve. That’s why we think the election is so critically important, and it’s important that it be held on time so that we don’t get mixed up with the rains and other problems that will happen if we delay past April. And that’s why it’s important that registration for the referenda start in July. And that’s why it’s important that in January of 2011, both referenda take place. Next question. MODERATOR: We have a question. QUESTION: Francois (ph) from Bloomberg. I have – I wanted to get a reaction from you concerning the statement that was made by Oxfam and the other eight agencies a couple of days ago, who said that the CPA was on the brink of collapse. I mean you obviously think it’s not on the brink of collapse. Why do you think it’s not? And concerning the referendum, do you think that, given the tensions between the NCP and the SPLM, that post-referendum issues should be discussed before or after these elections, as a, you know, should we wait now for a few months until these elections have taken place to carry on discussing what’ll happen after the referendum? Thanks. MR. GRATION: I’ll take the second part of your question first, and that is about the post-2011 issues. It’s my view that we need to start right now to work on these issues. The international community has provided some technical assistance, but it’s up to the parties right now to start talking about and agreeing to the outcome on these very, very tough issues. And I believe that it has to be resolved before the referendum takes place. So we only have a year, and within that year we have the campaigning, the election cycle, so I believe that we need to come up with a process now so that we can work with the parties and the parties can work between themselves to come up with solutions on citizenship, on the North-South border demarcation, on the sharing of resources – and that includes the oil – grazing rights, the Nile waters. There’s so many issues that have to be decided that we cannot wait until the referendum is here, until the people have made their will known. It will be too late at that point. These must be done right now, and we’re encouraging the process to start and we are in constant communication with the parties to help them come up with a process and a methodology to get these talks started. In terms of why I’m optimistic, sure I know there’s challenges ahead and sure we’re disappointed that there’s things that should have been done and could have been done that have not been done, and we will continue to urge the parties to make the commitment and to have the political will and the leadership to resolve these tough issues that have not been resolved as of yet. And these issues include who’s going to vote in Abyei and other tough issues that have to be decided even before we get to the post-2011 issues. But I am optimistic because I’ve seen progress. I just – take a look at what happened this last week as Dacharazi (ph) went over to Chad, and what happened in the latter part of December when Foreign Minister Faki came to Khartoum. The thawing of relations between Chad and Sudan are critical, and these next months of confidence-building, as we look at implementation of the Dakar agreement and border monitoring, will be absolutely critical to the future stability and security in Darfur. As we come up with solutions that involve the JEM, the Justice and Equality Movement, that demobilize the Sudan-backed Chadian rebels, these solutions will bring more peace and stability to Darfur. And we’re very, very encouraged at the initiative between Chad and Sudan to resolve these longstanding issues. As you all recall, it’s not that long ago when fighting was actually taking place, when Chadian rebels went across the border into Chad on the fourth of May, when rebels threatened within a mile of N’Djamena’s presidential palace, and within 13 kilometers in Omdurman of threatening the presidential facilities in Khartoum. This was only a little while ago, and yet today we’re seeing a thawing of relations. So that is a tremendous progress, in my view. The second thing was Abyei. In 2008, we saw the city or the town burn down. Fifty-thousand residents had to flee south. On the 22nd of August, the ruling from The Hague, the Court of Arbitration, came down. And that was able to come down in a peaceful way because the SPLM and the NCP came together and put out a joint press program. They put out a joint task force that helped brief the leaders and the people on what was going to happen. I saw that 70 traditional leaders were brought to Khartoum. Many of them went on to The Hague for the ruling. Relevant Links * East Africa * North Africa * Sudan * U.S., Canada and Africa * Peacekeeping * International Organisations * Conflict This kind of cooperation, this kind of working together, this kind of grappling with the tough issues that result in peace, is at the foundation of what the CPA is about. And it’s because we’ve seen Chad-Sudan, Abyei, the registration, the passing of all the laws prior to the end of last year, the two referenda, the Popular Consultations Law, the National Security Act, the Trade Union Law, and others – this came after lots of hard negotiation, a lot of long meetings and late nights. But we saw them working together to achieve a solution, an agreement that could be implemented. It’s this kind of effort that gives me hope that we can achieve the democratic process, that we can have a credible election, and that we can have a referendum on time. That’s why I’m optimistic. But I’m not naïve in knowing that it’s not going to be tough. It will be tough, it’s going to demand dedication on the part of the parties, and it surely will involve work from all the international community to achieve the end that we all seek, and that is a better future for the people of the Sudan. QUESTION: Hello, General Gration, my name is Naos Hume from the South African Broadcasting Corporation. With all the positive things that you have said with regard to the peace movement, where does President Umar al- Bashir fit in, particularly considering that there is a possible arrest warrant out for him in any country that is willing to do so? And in that equation, do you expect the African Union to be supportive of possibly arresting another African president with a view to what has already occurred with the president of Liberia, Charles Taylor, who is now sitting at The Hague?