The Sudanese Ambassador to Kenya Majok Guandong has assured the international community that the recent decision by the south Sudanese semi-autonomous government to withdraw its ministers from the National Unity Government in Khartoum was only a minor hiccup in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed between the South and North and not a signal for renewed conflict, the Kenya News Agency reported Tuesday.
Guandong said that the partners to the CPA will never go back to war and efforts were being made by the Khartoum government to honor all protocols signed between the North and the South in Nairobi.
"I would like to assure everybody that there is no cause for alarm and at this very moment, President Omar el-Bashir is supposed to open the North-South joint Parliament in Khartoum today as a sign of both sides commitment to the CPA," the ambassador said.
The Sudanese ambassador was speaking at a Mombasa hotel while officially opening the Juba International trade fair and investments exhibition.
The theme of the exhibition is "promoting partnership in trade and investments to create a thriving economy for the benefit of the people of southern Sudan."
He said complaints by southern Sudanese over the sharing of revenue generated from oil on a 50-50 basis were due to failure by the Khartoum government to demarcate the border between the South and North.
He said the Khartoum government was not in anyway dishonest and was not dillydallying in disbursing the oil revenue proceeds to south government.
Ghandong urged Kenyan investors to take advantage of the Kenyan government pioneering role in negotiating the CPA by being the first foreign investors to start business in southern Sudan.
The envoy said 60 percent of all goods imported to southern Sudan pass through the port of Momasa and praised the Kenyan government for eliminating bottle-necks that were hampering the clearance of goods at the port.
The ambassador assured Kenyans that contrary to press reports claiming that there was harassment of Kenyans in Juba, capital of southern Sudan, adding that those arrested were suspected criminals whose fate was decided by the country's courts.
He said the southern Sudan was rich in oil, Zinc, Copper, and Uranium among other precious minerals and urged Kenyans to take advantage of their proximity to seek employment with companies prospecting for the minerals.
Guandong said infrastructure in southern Sudan was completely devastated by several wars which took place in the area since the 1950s until the signing of the CPA and urged Kenyan contractors to bid for tenders to help rebuild roads, airstrips, hospitals and government buildings among other infrastructure.
Source: Xinhua
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