Kenneth Ogosia
2 November 2009
Nairobi — The Government of Southern Sudan yesterday intensified calls for seccession, warning that the unity achieved through the signing of Comprehensive Peace Agreement with the North had failed.
Speaking in Nairobi, GOSS principal liaison officer, Mr John Andruga Duku supported President Salvar Kiir's call for independence but added a lethal rider to it that "forcing unity is only pushing us to the precipice of war."
Mr Duku said: "We lost millions of our people looking for separation and thought unity if CPA was fully implemented would be attractive but this has flopped."
President Kiir spoke for independence on Sunday in Juba during a special church service to mark the start of registration set for multi-party elections in April next year.
He was quoted as saying: "When you reach the ballot boxes the choice is yours. You want to vote for unity so that you become second class citizen in your country that is your choice and if you vote for independence to become a free man, we will respect your choice."
The North's National Congress Party (NCP) blasted the plea made by President Kiir in which he urged Southerners to vote for independence in the 2011 referendum.
A member of the NCP leadership council, Mr Mandoor Al-Mahdi said that GoSS remarks amounts to "backtracking on the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA)".
Mr Al-Mahdi said that Mr Kiir's statement "does not fit" someone who works in the Sudanese presidency.
He dismissed suggestions that southerners are treated like "second class citizens".
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