29 March 2012 – “The current upsurge in fighting along the disputed Sudan/South Sudan border is just a symptom of the serious and deep-rooted underlying malaise,” Dr Mukesh Kapila commented in a statement issued today. Aegis Special Representative on Crimes Against Humanity, Dr Kapila was UN Resident Coordinator in Sudan from 2003 to 2004.
“The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that brought South Sudan into existence was neither “comprehensive” nor a proper “peace agreement”,” he added. “The CPA fudged over the legitimate complaints of the long-suffering marginalised people of Nuba, Abyei, Blue Nile and Darfur. Unless a sincere attempt is made to solve this in a fair and just manner, violent conflict will continue to erupt here and there. Citizenship, oil and border demarcation may complicate the picture but they are, in significant part, proxies for the grievances of the much-abused people of Sudan’s borderlands, which have to be tackled first if there is to be any peace and stability for the two countries.”
