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EASTAFRICA-PEACE Feb-16-2007 (440 words) xxxi
Sudanese bishop blames politics for delay in implementing peace
By Francis Njuguna
Catholic News Service
NAIROBI, Kenya (CNS) -- A Sudanese bishop has blamed politics and political maneuvering for the delay in implementation of a peace agreement between the government and the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement.
The delay in implementing the 2005 comprehensive peace agreement between the southern rebels and the government "should be blamed on the politicians themselves, people who were entrusted with its ... implementation," Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Adwok of Khartoum, Sudan, said at a Feb. 15 press conference in Nairobi.
At the same press conference, Archbishop John Odama of Gulu, Uganda, criticized rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army for wanting to change the site of peace talks from Juba, Sudan.
Both men spoke following the weeklong meeting of justice and peace commission coordinators from the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa.
Bishop Adwok said it was unjust for former rebels from southern Sudan to have to accept being incorporated into the Sudanese government before other aspects of the peace agreement were implemented. He also said it was wrong that the peace agreement did not have a time frame for implementation or an independent monitor.
He said Sudanese Catholic officials might be pushed to appeal to the Intergovernmental Authority on Development -- which works to preserve peace, security and stability in the Horn of Africa -- to take over the peace accord implementation process, since it no longer can be entrusted to the government and the rebels.
Archbishop Odama said current peace talks between the government and Lord's Resistance Army need to remain in Juba, about 100 miles from Uganda's northern border. Rebel leaders, who have used southern Sudan as a base, rejected Juba as a site for future peace talks after Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir vowed to "get rid of the LRA from Sudan."
The archbishop said that "some of the Ugandan tribes in the North are currently engaged" in the peace process, "and it would be fair to give this a chance."
In northern Uganda, the Acholi Religious Leaders' Peace Initiative has been working to mediate a peace agreement between the rebels and government.
In a final statement presented at the press conference, justice and peace coordinators expressed concern about issues such as the proliferation of small arms, the widening gap between the rich and the poor, political and religious intolerance, environmental degradation, HIV/AIDS, poor government accountability and rampant gender-based violence.
They called on governments and nongovernmental organizations to work with the faith-based communities in the region to respond to the needs of marginalized people.
The justice and peace leaders also said they would actively promote democracy, dialogue and education.
END
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