AU Commission Chairperson, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has assured Sudan, South Sudan and Mali that everything will be done to resolve the situation between the three member states. Dlamini-Zuma was addressing the 339th meeting of the AU’s Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) at Ministerial level, in Addis Ababa today.
Dlamini-Zuma also said there remained critical matters relating to the determination of the final status of Abyei; the resolution of the status of the disputed and claimed border areas; and the resolution of the conflict in the Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile States of Sudan.
“The establishment of sustainable and cooperative relations between Sudan and South Sudan requires the final delineation of their common border, a decision on the future status of Abyei Area, as well as the peaceful resolution of internal conflicts within each state,” she said.
In an effort to resolve the situation, the AU PSC adopted a roadmap for the resolution of the outstanding issues in the post-secession relations between the two countries. The roadmap was endorsed by the UN Security Council and other AU Partners, in a display of unity of views among the members of the international community.
Within the context of these efforts, the AU engagement has taken many forms.
We have mobilized African elder statesmen to lend a hand to the parties as they seek to end conflict and move these great African sisterly countries towards post-conflict reconstruction and sustainable development
The former South African Home Affairs Ministers, said they had convened talks to mediate between stakeholders. She said peacekeepers had already been deployed in order to ensure security and build confidence.
“We have mobilized African elder statesmen to lend a hand to the parties as they seek to end conflict and move these great African sisterly countries towards post-conflict reconstruction and sustainable development.”
These continental efforts are bearing fruit as witnessed by the signing, on 27 September 2012, of a series of agreements on post-secession relations, by Presidents Omar Hassan al-Bashir and Salva Kiir Mayardit, under the facilitation of the AU High-Level Implementation Panel.
“The AU will stand by them shoulder-by-shoulder in the process of addressing the remaining issues,” added Dlamini-Zuma.
In respect of the Malian crises, the AUC chairperson said the Union had welcomed the formation of the Government of National Unity, last August. Dr Dlamini Zuma also reported that the Support and Follow-up Group had held a high-level meeting in Bamako, on 19 October 2012. This, she said, was aimed at interacting with the Malian authorities on the way forward, as well as reviewing the Draft Strategic Concept for the Resolution of the Crises in Mali.
The Strategic Concept, which was developed as a follow-up to decisions by the AUPSC, articulates, in a holistic manner, the political, security, military and other measures that need to be taken to address the challenges at hand. A key outcome of that meeting was that the meeting in Bamako welcomed the Draft Concept.
