Sudan CPA conference wrap-up

Many words.

Many, many words.

Kenyan Lt. Gen. Lazarus Sumbeiywo, the primary negotiator of the CPA also spoke (sadly a transcript of his remarks in full is not currently available), but he was cited by South African SABC media as saying:

Sudan chief mediator General Lazarus Sumbeiywo says it is evident that parties involved in the CPA were motivated by different objectives in reaching an agreement.

The one concrete result was the-almost-foregone recognition by all parties of the binding resolution by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague regarding the Abyei borderlands issue (due in July).

Otherwise, not much was agreed to.

The harsh truth of it had to be spoken by Southerners:

A senior official from the south's dominant Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) accused the northern delegation of stalling on a number of key issues, including the position of their shared border, preparations for coming elections and a referendum on southern secession.

"The issues remain the same. There is no progress in resolving the issues yet," SPLM delegation spokesman Yasir Arman told Reuters.

"We discovered again that the (north's dominant) National Congress Party has no political will to resolve those issues ... We are running out of time."

Arman's comments clashed with more upbeat commentary on the Washington conference from the northern delegation, and the event's organiser, the U.S. envoy to Sudan Scott Gration.

Rather makes Lt. Gen. L. Sumbeiywo's remark ring clearer, doesn't it?