Secession controversy continues

The Sudanese government reacted on Friday to criticism of its recent announcement that the South could become a separate state if its people so wished by saying that the self-determination idea was not something it had decreed but the subject of an agreement negotiated with southern groups. Responding to opposition claims that President Omar al Bashir’s announcement “lacked a sense of national belonging, concern for national sovereignty, unity and dignity,” the government blamed the opposition for ignoring its call to reason and dialogue. “Nationalism and sovereignty are concepts based on the existence, definition and will of people,” it said in a statement IRIN received from Sudan’s Embassy in Nairobi. These factors are people-related concepts and not a predicate of the territorial factor, it said, adding: “The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) condemns itself when it overlooks the reference to people in the issue of self-determination.” On Thursday, the NDA had termed al Bashir’s offer “a crazy position which lacks nationalism and respect of sovereignty”. It affirmed its commitment to the unity of Sudan based on justice, equality, citizenship, and recognition of ethnic, religious and cultural diversity. Meanwhile, Sudan’s Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail on Wednesday sent a letter of protest to the chairman of the UN Security Council and the OAU concerning a recent meeting of Sudanese opposition and civil society groups in Uganda, Sudan Embassy spokesman Al Mansour Bolad confirmed in Nairobi. In the letter, the Sudanese government protested against what it termed Uganda’s “interference” in the internal affairs of Sudan and the opposition’s pledge to continue its armed struggle until the Sudanese government is overthrown.