Source: Khartoum Monitor daily English Newspaper,
 

Southern political parties that boycotted the recently held South-South-Dialogue conference that was held in Khartoum from Saturday 14th to Monday 16th November 2009 have described that conference as a failure, because all stakeholders were not involved. 

Khartoum Monitor newspaper spoke to some officials whose parties did not take part in the South-South-Dialogue conference held in Khartoum. 

The South Sudan Democratic Forum and the United Salvation Democratic Front (UDSF) are parties that were initially part of the preparatory committees for the proposed South-South-Dialogue conference; they decided to boycott the conference quite belatedly, expressing reservations on some issues that were not met by the conference. 

The Deputy Chairman of The South Sudan Democratic Forum, who is also the State Minister in the Ministry of Water and Irrigation in the Government of National Unity, His Excellency Mayom Kuoc Malek said the recent South-to-South Dialogue held in Khartoum did not achieve its objectives, because all stakeholders such as: civil society organizations, other political parties and church leaders were not part of the conference, that was why his party boycotted that conference. 

“We did not participate in that conference, because we thought that the basics of holding a South-South-Dialogue have not been met. First, if you want to hold a South-South-Dialogue, all the stakeholders must get involved in the preparation and also in the management of the conference”, Malek stated. 

“There must be somebody to mediate between Southerners, because, if Southerners have problems amongst themselves, this is why you call it South-South-Dialogue so that somebody who is a mediator would come and organize a conference then the different stakeholders would come and make their viewpoints and at the end you reconcile, he suggested.” 

Mr. Malek said the true South-South-Dialogue was the one held in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi in April 2005, while the one held in Khartoum was precisely a meeting a very limited political parties about three or four parties. 

“What I know is that, this conference was not going to achieve its objectives; the objectives of a South-South-Dialogue would not be achieved because only a few political parties were there. So this could have been called South Sudan political parties meeting, it is not a South-South-Dialogue”, Malek maintained.

He said representative of Southern Political parties recently met with the US Special Envoy to Sudan, Scot Gration, and deliberated on situation in Southern Sudan and they urged him (Gration) to mediate between Southern parties and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) in order to ensure Southern parties have political freedom in Southern Sudan.

The United Democratic Salvation Front (UDSF) Party described the South-South Dialogue conference which was held in Khartoum as “extraneous”, because it was without the participation of the SPLM, the ruling party in Southern Sudan.

The Secretary for Youth and Students’ Affairs and a member of UDSF Leadership Council, Eng. Banguang Tab said the South-South-Dialogue conference held in Khartoum failed right from the start because not all Southern political parties participated due to difference of opinion.

 “We were part of the preparatory committee for the proposed South-South-Dialogue conference, and we insisted that the conference should be representative of all Southern political parties including the SPLM, while those parties organized this South-South dialogue conference insisted that the conference should take place without the presence of the SPLM”, Tab divulged.

 “We in the UDSF our viewpoint was clear, we said there would be no serious South-South dialogue without the SPLM, because the SPLM is a ruling party in Southern Sudan, and the recommendations of the conference would have a positive impact only if the SPLM was part of the conference. The conference South-South-Dialogue held in Khartoum failed right away before it started, Eng. Tab asserted”.

 He disclosed that his party suggested that Southern parties should approach the IGAD the regional body that brokered the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and IGAD partners to pressurize the SPLM to be part of the South-South dialogue and be ready to implement the recommendations that the participants would come out with, if the South-South-Dialogue was held by the consensus of all Southern Parties.

 The UDSF luminary alleged that the South-South-Dialogue conference held in Khartoum was funded by the ruling National Congress Party (NCP). “That conference was sponsored by the NCP, just as the SPLM organized a conference for northern opposition political parties held in Juba (in September this year), the NCP supported some Southern political parties in Khartoum to do the same and that was a reverse equation, the UDSF youth leader accentuated.

 Eng. Tab urged Southern the SPLM to handle Southern affairs cautiously and wisely, adhering to the sense of national responsibility.