{"id":254952,"date":"2010-01-31T03:09:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-31T08:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16711557.post-6627702874994719349"},"modified":"2010-01-31T03:09:14","modified_gmt":"2010-01-31T08:09:14","slug":"united-nations-secretary-general-appeals-for-sudan-unity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/254952","title":{"rendered":"United Nations Secretary General Appeals for Sudan Unity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Libyan leader and African Union Chairman, Muammar Gaddafi, hosts President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan. There are reports that US jets bombed areas in Sudan during January and February of 2009. Sudan has defied the ICC warrant issued against al-Bashir.<\/a>
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

UN chief appeals for Sudan unity<\/p>\n

The UN secretary general has urged African leaders to work for national unity in Sudan to avoid the south of the country seceding from the north.<\/p>\n

Ban Ki-moon’s appeal comes as the African Union is due to hold its summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.<\/p>\n

Mr Ban said both the UN and AU had a big responsibility “to maintain peace in Sudan and make unity attractive”.<\/p>\n

A referendum is due next year on whether the oil-rich south should become independent.<\/p>\n

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has said he will accept the result of the poll even if the south voted for independence.<\/p>\n

The theme of the three-day AU summit in Addis Ababa is information and technology.<\/p>\n

But heads of states will also be discussing, among other issues, the escalating violence in Somalia and who will take over the AU chairmanship from Libya.<\/p>\n

The position should go to Malawi, the choice of the southern African regional grouping, SADC.<\/p>\n

But Libya wants to extend its one-year term and has Tunisia’s support.<\/p>\n

With eastern and southern African countries apparently solidly behind Malawi, it could be a bruising contest for the AU chairmanship, writes the BBC’s Uduak Amimo.<\/p>\n

High tensions<\/p>\n

“Whatever the result of the [southern Sudan’s] referendum we have to think how to manage the outcome,” Mr Ban said in a joint interview with AFP and RFI radio.<\/p>\n

“It is very important for Sudan but also for the region. We’ll work hard to avoid a possible secession,” he added.<\/p>\n

Sudan’s mainly Muslim north and the Animist and Christian South ended their two-decade war in 2005 and joined a unity government.<\/p>\n

But tensions remain high as in April the country holds its first genuine multi-party national elections since 1986.<\/p>\n

The south, which has a semi-autonomous government, is likely to vote to secede from the north in the 2011 referendum, correspondents say.<\/p>\n

Story from BBC NEWS:
http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/go\/pr\/fr\/-\/2\/hi\/africa\/8489724.stm
Published: 2010\/01\/31 03:35:11 GMT
<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Libyan leader and African Union Chairman, Muammar Gaddafi, hosts President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan. There are reports that US jets bombed areas in Sudan during January and February of 2009. Sudan has defied the ICC warrant issued against al-Bashir.Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos UN chief appeals for Sudan unity The UN […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4243,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254952\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}