A majority of the countries who undertook to assist Sudan financially in implementing the African country’s peace agreement have not fulfilled their pledges, President Thabo Mbeki said on Wednesday.
Briefing the media at Tuynhuys in Cape Town following a meeting with his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir, Mbeki said that despite the international donor community having pledged to assist with equipment and other resources required to help the Sudanese government resolve its political crisis, many of the countries still had not yet delivered.
”Various countries around the world have not yet responded,” he said.
He said making the resources available to the Sudanese government was a critical element for the resolution of the crisis, and that the South African government would do everything in its power to ensure that countries fulfilled their pledges.
”We need to bring everybody on board,” Mbeki said.
Sudan is reeling from what has been Africa’s longest civil war which claimed two million lives and drove four million people from their homes.
Despite a peace deal between its government and rebel groups brokered in 2005, violent and bloody clashes between warring factions continue to wreak havoc in some parts of the country.
Mbeki called on all sides of the conflict in Sudan to join peace talks.
”All groups should respect the international community’s opinion that they join in the peace talks,” he said.
Discussions between Mbeki and al-Bashir culminated in the signing of a series of bilateral agreements between the two countries on Wednesday.
Mbeki said the agreements, ranging from defence to economic, symbolised the two countries’ commitment to finding a peaceful solution to the Sudanese conflict.
He said a ”united and peaceful Sudan” was critical in terms of what needed to be happen on the continent. – Sapa