During  his visit to Sudan, the under secretary for UN peace keeping missions Jean-Marie Guéhenno spent  two days in Juba and met the First Vice President & President of South Sudan government  Lt. General Salva kiir and they discussed many issues concerning CPA implementation , Darfur and many other issues,

Ladu Lomeling from Miraya 101 FM  interviewed  Jean-Marie Guéhenno.

bellow  is the transcript of the interview 

Miraya:  thank you very much for giving us a time.

After years of neglect the south, south people expect that the United Nations has to assist in the infrastructure development in the south given the fact that the signing  of peace comprehensive agreement the two parties that is the Sudan people libration movment (SPLM ) and National Congress Party government reach a Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005 in Nairobi , and then it led  to  establishment of United Nations  Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).

Can you tell us how much is being done by the United Nations  to assist in the development  of  the south, because the people are  saying that they expect some thing much more bigger than peacekeeping ?

Jean-Marie Guéhenno: No , I agree it's fundamental to have development, people to have a job ,to be able to have schools , to have education .

I think we started with the infrastructure, many roads that were mined, and now there  are no more mines on many roads . the  demining process is still  going on.

But having roads opened is very important  ,because it means that while you can trade you can go to the  market sell your good , you can bring equipment  if you want to build  a school , if you wan to build  a house ,so opening up  the road for the people that is the first step in having a country that can come together , because then people are not isolated in their villages . they can go to cities , they can begin to come to gather.

Miraya : Can you briefly, probably, tell us about the purpose to southern Sudan?

Jean-Marie Guéhenno: Well,  Southern Sudan is very important for us .The whole peace in Sudan  was    one  probably of the most historical events in Africa.

it ended the longest conflict in Africa.

it was really an active leadership ,and I want to pay attribute to chairman Garang for that. I had the honor of meeting him once in Rumbeik .

Having made peace was a major achievement, but that peace can't be taken for granted , and while real progress has  been made ,we have seen ,for instances, the redeployment of forces that is a very important step ,there still a lot that need  to be done , and So I came to South  of Sudan in the course of a visit to the whole Sudan , to see how we can help ,how we can evolve the mission , so that it meets  the needs  of the  people in Sudan , and so also it consolidate peace .

Miraya : it seem like  that UN mission in Sudan  is here for the last three years , and in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement  there is security arrangements which is one  of  the key protocol within the Agreement . Now it seem that there has been a  problem north of Bahr Algazal  where the parties of the conflict or rather the peace has violated the CPA.

how much UNIMIS doing to make sure that  this kind of things don't repeat them  self ?

Jean-Marie Guéhenno:well, its clear that all the areas of separation between North and South , because  there are questions where exactly the border is, because there is not agreement yet on that , because that needs to be defined by border commission , its dangerous areas  and so We are looking at ways to possibly increase our  reporting ,increase our presence there , we have to see how we do it , but we see it's a priority for the mission because it's a flashpoint and we don't want any incident to escalate and put  in danger  the  comprehensive  Peace Agreement

Miraya: in connection with that the north-south border  demarcation has not been realized even that the National Congress Party let government in Khartoum to reject utterly the expert report of Abyie border  Commission . are you trying to push the parties to accept that this part of CPA and you must be responsible ?

Jean-Marie Guéhenno: of course , when Abyie is a part of CPA ,I discussed it with First Vice President, President Salva Kirr. We need  to find a solution  for Abyie.

it's one of the very sensitive issues with the demarcation of border, and we will continue to bush for that, and I was  very encouraged to see that president  Salva Kirr reiterated his commitment the commitment of  the  SPLM to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

Its essential even  when we are in  very sensitive issues which haven't  yet found a solution to read always stress that resumption of war is not an option.

I was glad to hear that.

now we need the international community to make sure that the Agreement implemented that there is satisfactory resolution that takes into consideration everybody interest .

Mirarya : Is there a mechanism for instances  to ensure that both party live(up) to the  spirit and let off the implementation of CPA ?

Jean-Marie Guéhenno: well, first when you have to talk to every body ,there is of course sensitive issues .which is the the oil revenues , they are very important both to the north and south and there is a lot of oil apparently in abyia significant amount of oil and so there is economic dimension .

And so one has to find a solution to that fact is in the legitimate needs of all concerns.

Miraya: You met with first vice President and president of the government of Southern Sudan Salva Kiir, can you elaborate more on what you discussed with him?

Well, we had a very good discussion. We did discuss the security issues I congratulated him on the progress achieved in the redeployment. It is an important benchmark, and I think the commitment of the SPLM to the implementation of the CPA in that regard has to be commended. We discussed sensitive areas that there is a need for more attention to avoid any escalation.

And We discussed of course the development needs of south Sudan and the need for international community to stay fully engaged, the need for the government to build capacities so that it can manage the oil revenues in the most effective way. We also discussed a bit Darfur, because it is important that the conflict in Darfur come to an end, because it is a terrible situation for the people in Darfur and it is also a danger for the peace in the whole of Sudan. And the CPA commits to making unity attractive, for that it is very important that there will be  peace throughout the country.

Miraya: On Darfur, there is feeling among the southerners that UN is paying much more attention to Darfur rather than giving funds to the implementation of CPA in the south, how do you address that?

Jean-Marie Guéhenno: Well with the creation of specific mission for Darfur, separate from UNMIS, separate from the mission that operates in south Sudan. I think we want precisely to address that concern.

We want a mission that is single-mindedly focused on the implementation of CPA and that makes every effort so that South Sudan finds a stable sustainable peace and development. And myself, I am spending two days in the south precisely because I want to see with my own eyes what situation is there, and I want to bring back to the Headquarters of the united nations  in New York a clear sense of the strategic importance of the CPA.

The peace that was signed on the 9th of January 2005 

It is a very powerful signal for the whole continent; we owe it to the people in Sudan, to the people of south Sudan we owe it to people in Africa to really pay a lot of attention.

Miraya: Don’t you think that by establishing another mission in the country; the UN is stretching itself very thin and probably there may be challenges that were not achieved, and do not you think it is important to consolidate UNMIS in the south first then establish another mission in Darfur?

Jean-Marie Guéhenno: Well, the UN Security Council instructed us to establish the mission in Darfur and it was a joint decision by the UN Security Council and the African Union. So two very important organizations and frankly I do not think it would be good just to ignore the conflict in Darfur.

It would be bad for the people in Darfur; it will be also bad for people in South Sudan. It is very important to address that conflict, because otherwise it could really damage the CPA.

So I think this is a real stake for the people of south Sudan in seeing the conflict in Darfur resolved.

And I note actually that the first vice of the President appointed one of his aids to precisely work on Darfur, because there is recognition here in south Sudan of the importance of bringing peace to Darfur.

Miraya: Let’s talk about the peace talks in Uganda, you know peace in Uganda, northern Uganda particularly entails the peace in Southern Sudan, and with the death of the second man in command of Lord Resistance Army (LRA) Vincent Otti and he had been so instrumental in negotiating peace with the Ugandan government which is being facilitated by the government of southern Sudan, don’t you think that this will have a negative impact on the process of peace between the government of Uganda and LRA?

I do not have enough information to give the definite answer to your question. I think all people saw what improvement, it was their life when there was  real a prospect for peace. So I think it would be very sad if that window was to close, and I do hope that everybody including those who are in the LRA will see that the path that was been taking with the help actually of the government of southern Sudan, they must not move away from this path for the good of their people.