EU speaks out in Sudan

EU speaks out in Sudan
Just few minutes ago a press release regarding “Southern” /Sudan came out from the corridors of EU council in Luxembourg. It has nothing new to offer for easing the tense situation in Darfur, south Kordufan and southern Sudan. This can be attributed to two facts the first one is that EU is not quite sure about whether the government of the North will recognize the new born country or not. Despite the fact the recognition of the North is not important since Southern Sudan came to this point after an agreement (CPA) and democratic referendum with 98% choosing secession. But not recognizing Southern Sudan opens for continued hostilities and the Sudanese are back to war again. The future of UNMIS is still not clear with a decision from the government of Sudan to terminate the existence of the mission with the termination of the CPA.

The second fact is that EU knowledge about the development of the scenarios in Sudan is very limited. The situation in Southern Kordufan is very volatile, the negotiation are going with the Darfurian rebels factions as well as military operations in the region. Southern Sudan itself is suffering from dormant rebel groups waiting for their share of power whether on ethnic or individual basis.

It rather alarming that EU conditions the engagement of the international community by the implementation of the popular consultation in Blue Nile and Southern Kordufan. What has been going on in Darfur for years is more terrible than what has been going on in Southern Kordufan. But it appears that EU is trying to use the carrot method to convince SAF to draw its troops from Abeyi. EU knows quite well that the issue of debt is very central to the future relation between Sudan and the international community. But EU has no any concrete suggestion for how this problem can be solved.

It is also interesting to see that EU condemned blocking of the north-South roads which are quite inevitable to humanitarian access and transport of food to the south.

It is also quite interesting to see how EU will approach the issue of security in Southern Sudan. All of us know that Southern Sudan lacks the basic infrastructure to provide support to its citizens in a region flooded with small arms. According the press release: Council will urgently take forward consideration of ways to provide support to South Sudan's civilian capacity-building requirements in the field of security.
Southern Sudan is now promised access to the markets of EU under "Everything But Arms". This simply says “Nothing except Oil” since we know that southern Sudan production and export is almost nil.



To read the press release click on this link:

http://www.developmentdays.net/Documents/COUNCIL%20OF%20THE%20EUROPEAN%20UNION%20Council%20conclusions%20on%20Sudan%203101st%20FOREIGN%20AFFAIRS%20Council%20meeting%20Luxembourg,%2020%20June%202011.pdf