Khartoum & Juba talks stall over slavery allegations
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March 7, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – A fresh round of talks between Sudan and
South Sudan over post-secession issues has hit a snag after Juba
accused Khartoum of refusing to discuss the issue of the alleged
30,000 Southern slaves held in Sudan.
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South Sudan’s cheif negotiator Pagan Amum (GETTY)
In a press conference held on Wednesday in the Ethiopian capital Addis
Ababa, the venue of the talks, South Sudan’s chief negotiator Pagan
Amum accused the Khartoum government of ignoring the issue of 30,000
Southern citizens suffering slavery in Sudan.
Amum’s accusations come one day after the recently separated countries
began a new round of talks on Tuesday under the mediation of the
African Union High Level Panel (AUHIP) led by former South African
President Thabo Mbeki.
Sources told Sudan Tribune that the AUHIP has informed both parties
about the negotiations schedule which gave priority to discussing the
issue of the status of Southerners in Sudan and northerners in South
Sudan.
Amum recalled that in June 2011, Khartoum terminated the mandate of
the National Commission for Fighting Abduction of Women and Children,
which was established in January 2002 to address the issue of slavery.
According to Amum, the move was intended to “punish” Southerners for
choosing to vote for secession in the January 2011 referendum which
paved the way for their region’s independence in July of the same
year.
He went on to criticise Sudan’s decision not to acknowledge the
existence of slavery in the country.
“It is a bizarre position that the government of Sudan is refusing to
admit that there are Southern slaves in Sudan. It is the same
government that manumitted more than five thousands of them,” he said.
Amum said that the number of southern slaves in Sudan is estimated at 30,000.
In response, the official spokesman of Sudan’s foreign ministry,
Al-Obayd Adam Marawih dismissed Amum’s allegations as an attempt to
scuttle the talks and forestall any agreement on the status of
Southerners in Sudan.
According to Marawih, the Sudanese delegation had already agreed to
sign the agreement proposed by AUHIP on the issue but Juba’s
negotiators refused to sign and raised allegations of abduction and
slavery in the north.
He said that the government delegation already countered these
allegations and stressed that there is no slavery in Sudan.
Marawih said that the government of South Sudan would bear full
responsibility if it fails to sign an agreement on the status of their
citizens in Sudan before 8 April, the deadline set by Khartoum’s
government for Southerners to leave the country or regularise their
stay as foreigners.
The ministry’s spokesman warned that as of 9 April Southerners would
be subject to all measures regulating the stay of foreigners in Sudan.
(ST)
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