Policy experts warned that securing peace in war-torn Sudan will require continued efforts from both the north and south, in a panel hosted by the School of Media and Public Affairs and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Thursday night.
About 99 percent of Southern Sudan voted to break away from the north last month, allowing the southern part of Sudan to create a separate government and country.
Dignitaries from both countries were in attendance. In an effort to demonstrate that the two newly born nations can cooperate, Fathelrahman Ali, acting chargé d’affairs at the Embassy of the Republic of the Sudan, sat next to his Southern Sudanese counterpart, Chief of Mission Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth.
“The referendum was conducted peacefully. It was free and fair,” Gatkuoth said. “It was very successful. Now the vision…is to make sure these two states are viable. If the north fails, then the south fails. If the south fails, so does the north.”
The two primary concerns, Gatkuoth said, were “making sure [the oil] pipeline is secure,” and meeting the infrastructure expectations needed for a stable state. Oil fields in the south, which make up 80 percent of Sudan’s oil supply, and the valuable pipeline leading north have caused tension in the past, but present new opportunity for economic growth in the south.
Though this is a “time of peace and celebration,” Ali said, “we must come together to address the challenges…or they will not succeed to maintain the peace.”
After 20 years of civil war between the predominantly Muslim north and majority Christian south, a 2005 peace treaty put in place the framework for a region-wide vote and an opportunity for southern succession.
Panelist and Washington Post correspondent Rebecca Hamilton said tensions surround Khartoum’s $35 billion debt, of which very little was spent on the south; the disputed border region of Abyei; the integration of northerners in the south and southerners in the north; and the decimated region of Darfur.
While the January vote was successful Jon Temin, director of the United States Institute of Peace’s Sudan Program, said “we need to continue to focus on the future of the north.”
“The north’s problems don’t go away with southern succession,” he said, adding that issues such as “the concentration of power and resources, especially in Khartoum, and the marginalization of the periphery” must be addressed.
Both the north and south need a new constitution, which must result from “a conclusive transparent process,” Temin said.
Cameron Hudson, a Department of State envoy to Sudan, praised international efforts in Sudan, especially from the U.S.
“We made very clear that we were with them and not very close behind them…we weren’t going to let them walk away from us,” he said. “We need to help maintain that galvanized support for the south.”
Despite formidable obstacles, the panelists and dignitaries agreed that outstanding issues must be resolved before Southern Sudan’s July 9 independence day.
“We are entering into this new nation, all of us united,” Gatkuoth said. “These expectations have to be managed by the government.”
