The speech of President Omar Bashir before the celebrations marking the birth of South Sudan, on July the 9th, 2011
18 July, 2011
Khartoum (sudanow.info.sd)- President Omer Al-Bashir on Saturday July 9, 2011, addressed the Sudanese nation on the historic day which saw the birth of South Sudan, as a new nation in implementation of the stipulations of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement CPA, 2005, in Juba, capital of new South Sudan State.
Hereunder, sudanow.info.sd publishes an unofficial translation of the text of President Bashir Speech before the celebrations.
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Companionate, and Peace and Blessings May be upon our Prophet Mohammed ibn Abdullah and on all the Prophets and Messengers of Allah, the Almighty.
Brother Lieutenant General Salva Kiir Mayardit, President of Government of South Sudan
Your Excellences Heads of State and government,
Brother the Secretary General of United Nations Ban Ki-moon,
Brothers, representatives of governments and parliaments,
Brothers, Secretaries and workers of the regional organizations,
Honorable citizens of South Sudan,
Honorable guests,
Al-Salamu aliakum wa rahmattullah wa barakatuhu (peace on you)
Today I salute you and congratulate our brothers in south Sudan for the establishment of their new State and the realization of their dream with foundation of South Sudan State on this dear part of the homeland.
We have come here to share with them their joy and celebrations, not in pursue of the unity for which we have exerted our utmost effort and sacrificed the most valuable things we have; and upon which the founding fathers and African liberation leaders have placed the dream of the unity of the whole continent, but in affirmation of a firm conviction that unity cannot be through war and that the will of the southern Sudan citizens must be respected. This conviction was what has pushed us to embark on the dialogue on the peace issues and on prolonged negotiations that resulted in our acceptance of the self-determination right, which is not consolidated in the international political law, but we have confirmed it on the Sudanese path and the history of rule. We have pressed ahead on this path as we were willing and keen on the peace for which we have worked to ensure that it would be built on a voluntary unity where, based on this keenness, we have accepted the separation of south Sudan from the United Sudan in accordance with the official statement, issued in Khartoum yesterday, recognizing the establishment of South Sudan as an independent State despite our believe that Sudan’s unity was the best and the most feasible for our people in both the south and the north.
Brothers and sisters,
The gains, which have been achieved throughout the past years via common conviction of the feasibility of peace and respect and implementation of the items of the agreement, necessitate us to protect them through the following: -
First: Sustaining and consolidating the peace
Second: Positive and distinguished neighborliness relations
Third: Considering the common interests via exchange of economic and commercial benefits
Fourth: Preserving the psychological, sentimental and social bonds between the two peoples
Therefore, we have a joint and continuous responsibility that necessitates pressing ahead with building and enhancing the trust to complete the agreement on the outstanding issues which will likely to consolidate the peace, overcome the difference and end the tension.
Peace in Sudan has been achieved through hard efforts, great sacrifices, patience over the negotiations, deep political thinking and creative means in finding elicited solutions and accurate ways out. Many friends and countries have walked this path with us and I take this opportunity to express our deep thanks and gratitude for them including Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, and the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD), the African Union (AU), the Arab League (AL), the European Union (EU), Norway and the United States of America.
We also express thanks for our friends, who have provided political and economic support for the peace process, top of them sister China and Russia.
The major challenge which we should raise as a banner and work to overcome, at present and future, is keeping the border security, particularly on the borderline; and to form a joint vision and understanding that consider the peculiarity of the belt which accommodates a great percentage of the two countries’ population and a high percentage of natural and environmental resources.
The Addis Ababa Agreement came to enhance the joint vision on the border as it stands on protecting the borders by the citizens themselves through exchanging common interests and with less troops instead of heavy deployment of military forces and monitors as it was the case previously, thus the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) would be terminated and we thank them.
Brothers and sisters,
The peace process has faced touch challenges but we have managed to overcome them through our determination to implement what has been agreed on for the good and stability of Sudan and its people. Together we have implemented what we have agreed upon via the different arrangements. We have conducted a democratic exercise through fair and credible elections that some thought we would not conduct, but we have disappointed them. We then faced the challenge of referendum whose bases and procedures were laid down by the National Referendum Commission which has been selected by the two partners. Many have thought that we would not conduct the referendum, but we have conducted it safely and peacefully and when the results were announced some predicted that we would not recognize them, but we recognized them openly as they reflected the free choice of the southern Sudan people. We have guaranteed the freedom of choice and expression through a rational and sound political exercise. As we have fulfilled all those promises a step by step, we will similarly fulfill our promise to support the south in establishing its state and stand alongside it in its first steps to become a strong and successful country.
We are looking forward to seeing the newly born South Sudan State at a top of a stable and harmonious community in which the spirit of harmony and the rule of law prevail and the freedom of expression and accord triumph among its religious, ethnic and cultural components. The success of the South Sudan sons in running their State is a success for us and an evidence for the ability of Africans in tackling their issues by themselves.
We reiterate our full readiness to support the institutions of the newly born South Sudan State at all fields technically and administratively and we are ready to support the new state with our experience and practical exercise in whatever it asks.
Brothers and sisters,
Honorable guests
In this day we hail the African Union High-level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), headed by President Thabo Mbeki and its active role in exercising its mandate in resolving the outstanding issues and reaffirm its continuation and our cooperation with it regarding the topics of its concern.
We, in Sudan, reiterate our supportive stance to the development of the regional organizations and our willingness to join the economic grouping which is expected to be established between the COMESA and the African Group for Developing the South and the Eastern African Countries Group, affirming our African role and our ability to contribute to enhancing the African-Arab communication as we constitute a linking component of the political, economic and social relations due to our strategic location in the African, Arab and Islamic regions; and a bridge between the northern and southern Sahara and between west and east of the Red Sea areas. We extend our hand in pledge of our Republic, opened to the world with relations that stand on respect and mutual interests, and if Sudan has geographically split, the good neighborliness ties shall remain standing and shall never sever and our people in South Sudan, unlike others, will have the advantage in North Sudan State as they are part of it.
We, as a great State that is rich in natural resources and fertile agricultural lands, reiterate our keenness to be a component of stability and development for the interest of Africa and its sons and an opportunity of utilization for our regional neighbor and mother continent.
Sudan, with its potentialities and capabilities, will continue playing a new role after the separation, and determinately and trustfully press ahead with its endeavors to achieve our aspirations on the bases of the principles we laid down and our commitment to the principle of the political partnership and mobilization of energies.
Honorable brothers,
After Sudan has fulfilled its commitments towards peace and stability in the region, towards the world peace and towards the international community; and after it has completed the internationally famous Nairobi Agreement in which many international capitals have expressed commitments and promises to back, commitments and pledges that have not yet been fulfilled, and despite our holding of free elections and a referendum witnessed by the whole world; and despite our commitment to south Sudan peace and to the resolution of the Darfur conflict, they have fabricated and set barriers before the stability of Sudan.
Nonetheless, we have exerted our utmost effort to achieve stability and fulfill our commitments to the peace in the South and in Darfur, therefore the Sudanese people have the right to call on the international community and the European Union to honor commitments they made and which were affirmed by the Heads of State and Presidential Envoys; and to be keen to cooperate with us. Similarly we call on them to cooperate with the newly born South Sudan State.
We also call on the U.S President Barack Obama to fulfill the commitment he declared and lift the unilateral sanctions imposed on the Sudan to open the way to normalization of relations with Sudan and prove the credibility and transparency in international dealing. Sudan, which has been sanctioned and fought, has always been working for the international peace and security and it will never relinquish that path.
I must say a word and salute our brothers in the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) who have shared with us the political work and together with whom we have crossed many stations that did not lack difference until we have implemented the agreement.
Here I must mention the Late Dr. John Garang with whom we initiated the peace path and we hail our brother Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit who worked with us as a partner for the sake of peace and wish him success in leading the new state.
Warm congratulations are extended to you, the southern Sudan citizens, over this historical day.
Here I’m, standing in the name of the Sudanese people, to tell you that we will be a support for you and your State, surpassing the bitterness of the past and taking the memories in which the most sincere part is our joint history together with keeping the extent of history and the spirit of fraternity and co-existence which brought us together.
Our hope is that you will be able to cross to the future and exploit the capabilities and huge resources in eliminating the woes of time of poverty and ignorance. We are trustful that you are aware of the challenges facing you and able to overcome them through the spirit of cooperation. We promise to be with you so that we support one another for the development of our countries and stability of our peoples.
We hope and aspire that this endeavor of ours would be a beginning for an era of trust and mutual respect and an end to doubt and war. We hope to leave all the culture of war and hatred behind us and work together for a future of fraternity and harmony.
Wa al-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuhu
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