KHARTOUM, 21 March 2005 — Former southern Sudanese rebels are expected in Khartoum by the end of March to begin work on a new interim constitution, an official from the former rebel movement said yesterday.
The Sudan People’s Liberation Army signed a peace deal with the Khartoum-based government in January to end more than two decades of civil war in the south.
Some SPLA officials have already begun work in Khartoum, but the group’s official arrival has been delayed as the movement prepares its transformation to political party from rebel group. Deng Goc Ayuil, the most senior SPLM official in Khartoum, told Reuters the high-level 70-member delegation would likely arrive next week but by the end of the month at the latest. “Tomorrow I will go to Nairobi to make preparations for their arrival,” he said, adding he would then move from Kenya to SPLA areas in the south to meet with other officials.
“Right now they are holding workshops to prepare the members of the delegation for what they will be doing in Khartoum,” he said, adding that the first task would be to agree an interim constitution for Sudan. He said the SPLA had opened six offices in Khartoum and at least 10 others all over government areas of Sudan.
Meanwhile, Sudan has accused humanitarian agencies operating in the war-torn region of Darfur of using only a fraction of funds from donors on the crisis and retaining much of it for their own activities, the independent Al-Sahafa daily reported yesterday. The paper quoted the governor of South Darfur state, Al-Hajj Atta Al-Mannan, as saying that just over 10 percent of the total amount of financial assistance donated for the crisis in Darfur had reached the needy.
He claimed that the majority of the money was used to fund activities not related directly to the plight of the people of Darfur. “The share of the people of Darfur from this fund was only 12 percent while the remainder was spent on administrative operations and workers of the international organizations in Darfur,” Mannan charged.
