An official of Sudan's former rebels iscalling on Sudan President Omar al-Bashir's National Congress (NCP) Party toshow commitment towards implementing the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement(CPA).
This follows the signing of an agreement Wednesday between the SudanPeople's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the NCP.
The agreement, supervised by U.S.special envoy to Sudan Scott Gration, paves the way for the implementation ofthe CPA.
Signed in 2005, the CPA effectively ended over two decades of civilwar between Sudan's north and south.
Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, who heads the governmentof Southern Sudan's mission to the United States told VOA that President Barack Obama's administration is serious about endingthe Darfur crisis and bringing about the implementation of the CPA.
"Ofcourse the agreement that was signed today is basically the implementation ofthe CPA or on implemented issues. If you can recall the initiative that wasinitiated by special envoy of Obama, General Gration, we had the CPA conferencehere this year. Trilateral discussions (went on) here in Washington and thesecond one was in Khartoum and this is the third round in Juba," Gatkuoth said.
He said the signing of theagreement shows commitment from both sides.
"We have agreed that we needto recommit ourselves into the implementation of the CPA. Basically theagreement is saying that we need to implement the issue of north-south border.We need to implement the Abyei roadmap or the Abyei protocol for that matter,"he said.
Gatkuoth said the Obamaadministration has been instrumental in calming tensions and suspicions.
"The only difference at thistime is that the U.S administration with the special envoy leading this processis to implement the CPA or to recommit ourselves to implementing the CPA withthe moderation or the supervision of General Scott Gration," Gatkuoth said.
He said President Bashir'sNational Congress Party has undermined the CPA's implementation.
"So far, we have been tryingour best to implement this CPA, but the National Congress Party has been veryreluctant to move an inch," he said.
Meanwhile, a senior NCPofficial, Ghazi Salaheddin, said both the SPLM and NCP have agree on 10 out of12 trouble areas, including power sharing between the north and south.
But Gatkuoth said the NCPhas thwarted efforts to fully implement the CPA.
"This is exactly what weneed to ask the National Congress Party. How committed are they to implementthe CPA or the unimplemented provisions at this time? And I hope they areseriously meaning it because they have been known for signing agreements andnot implementing them," Gatkuoth said.
He said President Obama'sadministration has demonstrated in many ways its commitment towards resolvingthe Darfur crisis as well as the full implementation of the CPA.