Human rights group warns Sudan on brink of another disaster

In a dramatic development, the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM), the party that represents the interest of Southern Sudan, has made an announcement to withdraw from the National Unity Government of Sudan.

This decision, made on Thursday, could lead to another war between the Southern Sudanese and the Government of Sudan, human rights group International Christian Concern (ICC) has said.

During decades of war between South Sudan and the Government of Sudan (GOS), over two million Southern Sudanese were killed and four million were forced to leave their homes due to indiscriminate attacks waged by GOS forces.

The conflict only came to an end after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005 between the SPLM and the GOS.

However, the GOS failed to withdraw its troops from South Sudan by 9 July 2007 as per the agreement, and in fact has played a "shell game" with its deployment of troops.

Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, head of the mission of the government of South Sudan to the United States, stated in recent interview with ICC that "they [GOS] took the forces [from one area of the south] and dumped them in the oil areas [of South Sudan]."

This further complicates the issue and will undoubtedly lead to open conflict.

The GOS forces are also pursuing an agenda of Islamisation in South Sudan.

According to the US State Department's 2006 report on International Religious Freedom, "(GOS forces) in the South were rewarding Southerners who convert to Islam and inducing non-Muslims in the military to convert to Islam in advance of the 2011 referendum on Southern independence."

These two examples are just a small sample of the GOS's many violations of the CPA, ICC has told Christian Today.

"It is obvious that the SPLM has been pushed to withdraw from the National Unity Government due to the GOS's refusal to honour its agreements," an ICC release has said.

ICC's Regional Manager for Africa, Darara Gubo, stated that "The international community needs to confront the GOS and expose their games and machinations. If the international community does not make it clear that the present tactics of the GOS will no longer be tolerated, then Sudan will surely face another genocide and the Christian South will face millions more deaths."

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