IGAD Summit Begins In Ethiopia

23 November 2010 – (Khartoum) – The Inter Governmental Authority for Development or (IGAD) Summit started on Tuesday in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

The one-day extraordinary summit of Heads of IGAD member states will mainly discuss the southern Sudan referendum and the situations in Somalia.

A Sudanese political analyst is however pessimistic that the one day summit will be able to tackle all the pending issues in the CPA and the post referendum issues.
Professor el-Tayib Zain El-Abdin spoke to SRS from Khartoum on Tuesday.

[El-Tayib Zain El-Abdin]: “The summit is too short and it is only for one day, knowing that the pending issues in the CPA and the post-referendum issues are complicated and too much. These issues are not less than 13 issues, if you include the hanging issues in the CPA, and the issues mentioned in the referendum act which are 9 issues, so it will come to 13 complicated issues including Abyei, the border demarcation and the popular consultation. These are very complicated issues, therefore I don’t think a big gathering of IGAD leaders and the other representatives, can tackle these issues.”

Zain El-Abdin also said that he thinks the summit will come out with a statement urging the two partners to the CPA, to tackle the pending issues in a peaceful manner.

[El-Tayib Zain el-Abdin]: “What will happen is that, the chairman of the AU high level panel, Thabo Mbeki, will be required to introduce a framework document he has proposed regarding the pending issues, although it has not be accepted by the two partners. According to this, the NCP led by the president of the republic and the SPLM led by Salva Kiir will be given the chance at the summit to comment on Mbeki’s document. I think finally the summit will come out with a statement urging the two partners to tackle the remaining issues in consultation with the chairman of the AU panel, in a peaceful way to avoid any possibility of going back to violence between the two parties.”

President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir, 1st Vice President and GOSS President Salva Kiir Mayardit along with a high level government delegation are attending the summit.