Nairobi (Alshahid) -The Ministerial Council of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has met in Nairobi to prepare for the coming 14th summit of IGAD member states, scheduled to begin Tuesday at Kenyan capital’s Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC).
The Sudanese government delegation was headed by the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Mutrif Siddiq, who told the meeting that advanced steps had been reached in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
The ministerial council meeting was also addressed by the Kenyan and Ethiopian Foreign Ministers, the US Envoy to Sudan, Scott Gration, the British envoy and the Ambassador of Italy on behalf of the IGAD partners.
The European speakers expressed their concern over the post-referendum arrangements and called on the two partners to begin discussions of the post-referendum arrangements on ground that the CPA did not tackle this issue.
At a close-door meeting, the two partners of the CPA gave reports on the implementation of the peace agreement. The delegation of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), which heads the GoSS was headed by William Deng, while Pagan Amom of the SPLM joined the meeting.
The meeting is to issue a declaration which will be submitted to the summit of the IGAD heads of state for ratification on Tuesday morning.
The First Vice -President of Sudan and GoSS President, General Salva Kiir and Sudanese Vice-President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha are expected to arrive in Nairobi for the summit.
IGAD has expressed concern over the implementation of the southern Sudan peace agreement ahead of elections next month in the oil-rich country.
Kenya’s Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula is calling on the international community to honour their pledge of 4.8 billion USD to assist in the implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended the fighting between northern and southern Sudan.
