President Kiir’s Speech at the SPLM National Liberation Council (NLC), Nyakuron Juba, South Sudan
Opening Remarks of the Chairman of Sudan Peoples’ Liberation
Movement (SPLM) and President of the Republic of South Sudan,
H.E. Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit
SPLM National Liberation Council Meeting, Nyakuron-Juba
26th
March 2012
Your Excellencies,
Leaders of SPLM and other political parties
Your Excellencies members of the diplomatic corp
Comrades
Ladies and Gentlemen
I would like to welcome you all to this gathering today and before we
move further, I invite you to stand and observe a moment of silence in
honor of our heroes and heroines, on top of whom is our founder and
leader, Dr. John Garang De Mabior, without whose sacrifice we will not
be here today. I would like to also give special honor and recognition to
our war veterans, wounded soldiers orphans and widows.
Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today we are here in an independent nation due to the wise leadership
of the SPLM and the vigilant struggle of the South Sudanese people. 2
This meeting of the National Liberation Council is overdue; however,
you are aware that the country has been engaged in many important
activities. This included the census, elections, referendum, and
ultimately independence. After independence, we have been faced
with many challenges, some old, some new.
Nevertheless, your political bureau has been diligently working to make
decisions in regards to the party for our overall benefit. These
decisions, which will be clearly outlined in the report of the Secretary
General, will summarize our engagement with the National Congress
Party during the CPA period and leading towards the independence of
South Sudan, including the disengagement of
SPLM-N.
At the last National Convention, we committed to peacefully resolve
the outstanding issues of the comprehensive peace agreement without
a return to war. To date, the SPLM has maintained that commitment,
even in the midst of continued provocations from the NCP and their
government in Khartoum. The NCP continues to drag their feet on the
implementation of the CPA provisions even after independence. After
months of negotiations in Addis Ababa, led by our Secretary General,
we have recently made progress in the areas of citizenship and border
demarcation.
While we welcome this breakthrough, we have not been able to move
forward on other pressing issues, mainly Abyei. In addition, the oil
shutdown remains unresolved. In an effort to end this impasse and
move the negotiations forward, I have invited President Bashir to a
summit in Juba. President Bashir has accepted my invitation and we
look forward to welcoming him to Juba on April 3rd
. 3
Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The general elections held in 2010, SPLM exerted its position as the
people’s party in Sudan and particularly in South Sudan. Our candidate
for the Presidency of Sudan, Comrade Yassir Arman was second to El
Bashir, in spite of the fact that SPLM withdrew him from the candidacy.
Here in the South, SPLM won by a landslide. This was also reflected in
the referendum as the people of South Sudan overwhelmingly voted
for independence and today we are meeting as a ruling party in an
independent state.
You will also recall that during the election time 2010, there was an
open field in which parties could propagate their programs. All parties
were allowed unimpeded access to campaign, including the use of
media. Our gallant security forces protected us during the campaigns
and polling, ensuring that there was minimum distraction to the
electoral process. This was in line with our principle of pluralism and
freedom of expression and association. In our party, we met challenges
during the selection of candidates.
Those who felt that they were not selected by the electoral colleges, or
the political bureau, felt aggrieved and some of them chose to contest
as independent candidates. Some of them joined other political parties.
But those who were willing to support the decisions of the SPLM
remained within the party and campaigned for their chosen colleagues
in order to help them to get elected. This type of party discipline and
camaraderie must be encouraged. 4
Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen,
After the elections, we endeavored towards the referendum. It was
noted as a landmark achievement in Sudan’s political history because
the status of the people of South Sudan would change should they
choose secession.
Comrades, the status of South Sudan has indeed changed, because
through a peaceful referendum, our people chose to be an
independent nation. SPLM should be proud to have delivered the
people of South Sudan this great political achievement. The
referendum brought change to the SPLM, as many of our loyal
members are citizens of Sudan. Our independence led to the
establishment of SPLM-North led by Cde. Malek Agar.
Comrades, ladies and gentlemen,
There are still challenges facing us as a party. While we succeeded in
delivering independence to South Sudan, we must continue to foster an
environment of unity, equality and progress, which is the emblem of
our party leading to the prosperity of our country.
However, the biggest challenge to achieving this vision is our
relationship with the government of Sudan and the NCP. They have
created, sponsored and armed militias that continuously disturb our
border states. They have bombed civilian targets in South Sudan and
diverted our natural resources.
We must conclude all of the outstanding CPA negotiations in order for
us to focus our concentration on developing the nation.5
I hope that the upcoming summit with President Bashir will enable us
to sign the agreements that were initialed by our negotiating teams.
This will pave the way forward as we aim to resolve the other issues
such as Abyei and the issues of oil. As a party, we must support this
summit and work with our negotiating team to broker a reasonable
agreement.
Comrades, ladies and gentlemen,
The list of our challenges may be long, including meeting the
development plan, encouraging peace and reconciliation and providing
services to our people. However, we must remain vigilant. We will be
operating without the much needed resources from the oil. As you are
all well aware, your government decided to shut down oil operations
after several attempts to stop Khartoum from stealing our oil.
This puts enormous pressure on the government to fulfill budgetary
obligations. We have introduced austerity measures and continue to
explore ways of increasing our non-oil revenues. As SPLM cadres, we
count on you to help explain to our people the reasons for this shut
down and the steps that the government is taking to ensure that the
much needed services are not heavily disrupted.
SPLM as a party will promote national unity, reconciliation and healing
as a priority. To be able to achieve this, the SPLM led government will
double our efforts to consolidate unity and to promote reconciliation
among the people of South Sudan. Much of our insecurity has been
caused by illegal possession of firearms, which has encouraged cattle
rustling and other disruptive activity.
The situations taking place in Jonglei, Unity, Lakes, and Warrap States
are undesirable and unacceptable.
Comrades, your government has put into place mechanisms for
peaceful disarmament of communities that illegally possess arms. I
take this opportunity to urge all of you to cooperate by encouraging
civilians in your community to peacefully hand over any illegal weapons
in their possession. As members of the NLC, use your positive influence
to encourage peace and reconciliation in your home areas. While
working alongside our partners, such as the UN, we must take
responsibility for our insecurity and make every effort to guarantee
peace and stability.
Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Food security is as important as our physical security. The UN has
informed us that our country will have a deficit of about 400,000 tons
of food which we need to work very hard to generate. Your SPLM led
government is doing all it can to import food and essential commodities
to ensure that the disaster is abated. However, we encourage the
development of our agricultural sector in order to produce food right
here at home. This is the only way to lasting food security. We must all
engage in food production and influence your communities to do the
same.
Education, healthcare, and infrastructure are all among government
projects that have been given priority. We must work together to bring
education to all children, but in particular the girl child. 7
She must be educated and given every opportunity to succeed, just like
her male counterparts.
High quality healthcare is necessary in order to bring down our
mortality rate, and eradicate diseases that have plagued our people for
decades. Building infrastructure, particularly roads, bridges, electricity,
and affordable housing will connect our citizens and provide them with
opportunities for employment. We will continue to work with our
partners and friends to implement these important components of our
development plan.
Corruption and malpractices still continue to impede development. This
practice is draining the limited resources we have and it has the
potential to undermine the mission of the SPLM. As a government, we
have put into place several mechanisms for combating this corruption
including bills on transparency and accountability. These laws will be
enforced and anyone who violates, or intends to violate or is suspected
of violating them will be prosecuted by law. The SPLM must also
enforce these laws within the party.
Comrades, ladies and gentlemen,
As I mentioned earlier, our circumstances have changed. As a party, our
constitution and manifesto all refer to our previous political realities.
The current political dispensation and status require that our basic
documents conform to our political reality. It is therefore of paramount
importance that these basic documents are made compatible with our
political reality as it will affect our structure and the way we do
business. 8
As we carry out this restructuring and reformation process, we must
recognize that we are now in an era of democracy and political
pluralism. SPLM, our party, affirms its total and unwavering
commitment to democratization and political pluralism in our country.
We would like to pursue a policy of harmony and social cohesion which
is according to the guiding principles of our constitution.
In order to strengthen these principles, our political and civic education
at all levels starting from the BOMA congresses need to be enhanced.
This will ensure proper organization and mobilization of our cadres. As
we do this, we should be conscious of empowering of our women and
youth leagues. Women and youth constitute the majority of our
cadres. Their development is paramount and will contribute
enormously to the development of this country.
Comrades, ladies and gentlemen,
Before concluding, it is my honor to recognize the enormous support
provided to South Sudan from our friends and partners all over the
world. This support has been demonstrated both materially and
politically. We want to say thank you for supporting us. We in South
Sudan are now free.
However, please remember that injustice continues in Darfur, South
Kordofan and South Blue Nile. As a party and a government we
subscribe to the sovereignty of states and non-interference in the
internal affairs of another state. Yet, we are mindful of the pain that the
people of those areas are experiencing is the exact pain that we in
South Sudan endured for many years.
I therefore call upon you our partners, friends and well-wishers to
provide the much needed humanitarian assistance to those who need it
most and further urge you to seek for peaceful political settlement in
those regions.
Comrades, we have come a long way to be where we are today. We
have achieved much, but we must remember that there still remains
much to be achieved. Building a nation is will take our lifetimes. Those
who have gone before us have sacrificed their lives for our freedom.
It is now our turn to do our part to contribute to building this country.
South Sudan has endless potential, but it will take our collective effort
to realize that potential. We must join together to build South Sudan
into a strong and innovative country filled with promise for generations
to come.
Long Live SPLM
Long Live our Partners and Friends
Long Live the people of South Sudan
SPLM OYEEE
God Bless you all.
Thank You
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