Nairobi — When Southern Sudan finally opens its doors for business, the prospects of big time commerce for Kenyan entrepreneurs promise to eclipse the coffee boom of the mid 1970s.

"It is a win-win strategy for all stakeholders in the Sudan, in the region and the rest of the world," said Dr John Garang, the chairman of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement which controls Southern Sudan.

The people of Southern Sudan, under the umbrella of the SPLM, are all geared towards developing their oil-rich region which has remained unopened to the world for more than four decades.

To many of these people, including Dr Garang, Kenya has been their second home and they are now counting on their neighbours, whom they have co-existed with, to offer a helping hand as they embark on rebuilding their country.

A new chapter in the history of Sudan has been opened where nation-building has replaced the familiar cacophony of gunfire.

Nothing could demonstrate this better than their coming together recently in Nairobi for a three-day forum, the South-South Dialogue Conference, which was facilitated by Moi Africa Institute whose patron is retired president Daniel Moi.

The conference, which brought together interest groups in Southern Sudan, was convened to drum up support for the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which was signed on January 9, between the SPLM and the Khartoum government of President Omar el-Bashir, effectively bringing to an end 21 years of civil war.

And following the CPA, there will be a six-year transition period in which the Southern Sudan and the Arab-dominated north will have to follow all provisions of the accord.

The two main regions will operate using their separate governments and armies during the interim in the context of "one country two systems" model.

The government of Southern Sudan will exercise exclusive political powers, including the power to initiate and conclude international agreements in social, educational and economic fields with foreign countries and international organisations and to have officers abroad for these purposes.

It is for this reason that the SPLM - which is the only body mandated by the peace agreement to represent the interests of all the southerners - decided to unveil its blueprint for developing the otherwise remote area.

"I believe that our first and foremost task and priority is to heal, to forgive, to reconcile and to unite around the CPA and its implementation so that we face the challenges of the interim period with a unified purpose, will and cohesion," said Dr Garang.

He added: "It would be a disheartening irony that, in the midst of the unique opportunities offered by the CPA to rewrite the history of our people by changing the course of our political history, we would be, as before, in the forefront of our own self-destruction."

This, Dr Garang said, could not be achieved unless all the warring groups in Southern Sudan lay down their arms and use the opportunity to heal wounds, forgive one another, reconcile and close ranks.

The second priority will be the establishment of a system of good governance and the rule of the law to ensure justice and stability in the new nation.

All ethnic groups will be represented at all levels of the government in the spirit of being treated equally and given equal opportunities in all aspects of politics, power and the economy.

The SPLM is in the process of establishing a lean, transparent and accountable government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) that will represent all the political forces of Southern Sudan in accordance with the CPA.

The SPLM has vowed to be totally committed to fighting corruption so that the oil revenues and those from other sources are utilised for the public good.

The third priority, and one of the most critical, is the establishment of physical infrastructure.

"Since the time of Adam and Eve, there has never been a single inch of tarmac road in Southern Sudan, the size of Kenya and Uganda put together," said Dr Garang.

Twelve key roads would have to be tarmacked as a priority to link the region with northern Sudan and the Greater Horn of Africa, the Great Lakes area so as to create a major market of some 300 million people.

These roads will be Juba-Nimule, Juba-Kapoeta-Lokichoggio, Wau-Tambura-Yambio-Maridi, Wau Rumbek-Maridi-Yei-Kaya, Juba-Yei-Lasu, Juba-Malakal-Renk, Rumbek-Yirol-Bor-Pochalla, Wau-Warrap-Abyei-Kadugli, Melut-Adar-Ulu-Kurmuk-Damazine, Malakal-Nasir-Jekou, Wau-Aweil-Babanusa and Wau-Raga-Nyala to Darfur.

In addition to the roads, two railway linkages are in the development programme.

The Southern Sudan's capital city of Juba is to be linked by railway with the port of Mombasa either through Uganda or Kenya. The other one is the rehabilitation of the Wau-Aweli-Babanusa railway.

Negotiations were also on course between the SPLM and the Democratic Republic of Congo to link Juba-Yei-Lasu with the mineral rich region of Kisangani by railway which will be a vital link between, not only the entire Sudan, but also the Horn of Africa with the Great Lakes.

The envisaged construction of a major dam for hydro-electric generation at Fulla or Bedden Falls south of Juba is perhaps the most critical to overall development of the entire Southern Sudan.

On the economic front, the SPLM aims at putting in place poverty eradication programmes to spur economic growth through rural development.

There are plans to also transform traditional agriculture and integrate it with agro-industries.

"The SPLM's vision is encapsulated in two slogans; 'to use oil revenues to fuel agriculture' and to 'take towns to people in the countryside rather than people to towns' where they end up in slums without skills and employment and consequently their quality of life deteriorates," said Dr Garang.

Rural electrification, therefore, was a priority so that people in these small rural towns become focal points for rural development and thus eradicate poverty and also uplift the living conditions of these upcountry people who constitute 90 per cent of Southern Sudan's population.

Dr Garang said the provision of social and public services like education, health, sanitation and clean water was one of SPLM's major priorities.

There are some three million refugees living in Kenya and elsewhere and internally displaced people who need to return to their homes following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

The SPLM has announced its policy of free universal primary school education so that by 2015 all girls and boys of school-going age go to school and by which time the government should also have free secondary education.

Other initiatives will be introduced for those beyond primary school age, which will include adult education and vocational training.

Women, in particular, will be given special attention to develop their skills to allow for their participation in income generating activities.

"Only when women are able to bring home a respectable income alongside their husbands' will they become fully empowered and respected," he said.

Southern Sudan was promised donor funding totalling $4 billion (Sh304 billion) during the recent Oslo Donors Conference in Norway which was organised by Norwegian minister Hilde Johnson.

Dr Garang had these parting words for his people: "There are those who might entertain the false belief that we cannot govern ourselves; we should not and cannot let their thought patterns influence us.

"Let us collectively go down in history as the generation of Southern Sudanese that turned Sudan around - by putting an end to discrimination, racism, inequality, division, exploitation, marginalisation, at best, slavery and murder at worst.

"Let us unite against ethnic, religious and radical divides to restore personal dignity for all. Let us move from total economic dormancy to total vibrancy; from relegation and resignation to a cycle of poverty, destitution and misery to activism, hope and excitement. Let us reject being mere spectators in life, to becoming masters of our own destiny."