Peace stalling due to lack of support, says southern leader

The leader of southern Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit, has said the implementation of the comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) between the Khartoum government and the former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLA) needed help from the international community if it is to succeed.

"It needs the international partners who helped create the CPA to push the parties forward," said Kiir on Monday in Nairobi. He was with a high-level delegation on their way to the United States. Kiir is both President of autonomous southern Sudan and first Vice-President of the Sudan.

Speaking about fundamental flaws in the implementation of the agreement signed by the SPLA with Khartoum in January 2005, he added: "The mechanism set up to monitor and push the process forward is not the right one."

There had been "no progress", he said, in setting up institutions needed for cooperation between the south and Khartoum, such as a national petroleum board.

Kiir called for a change of attitude from the international community. "They have distanced themselves from the process," he said. "It needs supervision by those who designed the CPA. They are the ones who should know how to implement it."