The Southern Sudan Political Parties’ Leadership Forum

The Southern Sudan Political Parties’ Leadership Forum concluded its meetings on Thursday [17 February 2011] here in Juba and reached the following decisions wherein it:

1. Approved the results of the Southern Sudan Referendum and congratulated the people of Southern Sudan on their historic decision to vote overwhelmingly for independence;
   
2. Commended and approved the report of the Chairman of the Southern Sudan 2011 Referendum Taskforce;
   
3. Unanimously approved that the name of the new state be “The Republic of South Sudan”;
   
4. Approved that the name of the new currency be the “South Sudan Pound”;
   
5. Approved the participation of political parties, civil society organisations and faith-based groups, and the inclusion of their members, in the established technical committee to review the Interim Constitution of Southern Sudan (ICSS). United South Sudan Party is among the eleven political parties that will join the technical committee in reviewing the interim constitution;
   
6. Approved that the post-referendum process of creating a National Anthem and a Coat of Arms (emblem) for the new nation proceed as planned under the Taskforce Technical Working Group’s work plan with public participation in those activities;
   
7. Approved the current Flag, which the SPLM party has now surrendered to the new nation;
   
8. Approved that the amended draft ICSS be presented to the Political Parties’ Leadership Forum before it is presented to the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly.
   

It’s important to note that all the other political parties agreed to work together in unison in order to ensure that no single party or government entity gets away with doing things unilaterally. The new country still faces challenging times ahead. Several issues still remain unresolved, such as the duration of the transitional period, the percentages of participation by other political parties (i.e. power sharing), the dissolution of the current institutions of GOSS (Government of Southern Sudan), to mention but a few.

Clement J. Mbugoniwia
Juba, South Sudan

Congratulations to All South Sudanese on Independence!

On this historic day [7 February 2011] of the official announcement by the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission of the final results of the recently-conducted Referendum, United South Sudan Party (USSP) would like to congratulate all the citizens and leaders of South Sudan on their unity, courage, commitment and success in fulfilling their deeply-held aspirations for an independent South Sudanese state. Equitable nation building should be the next, equally important stage in our struggle. USSP believe that it is this spirit of unity of the South Sudanese people that culminated in the overwhelming vote of 98.83 % for an independent sovereign state. We hope that this spirit of unity will continue to guide us throughout the next difficult and challenging stages in the history of our new-born nation.

God bless South Sudan!

Find here a PDF copy of a congratulatory message to the President.

As South Sudanese continue to celebrate the results of the recently-concluded Referendum — which was overwhelming in favour of South Sudan's independence — United South Sudan Party is pleased to continue to add several new members to the Party, some of whom were previous members of other political parties. New steering committees are being set up in all the states, such as Western Equatoria State (WES).

Recently, the USSP Party Leader, Clement Mbugoniwia, held a joint meeting between USSP and UNMIS in Yambio, the capital of WES. In that meeting, he addressed post-referendum issues and concerns, such as the involvement of all political parties, civil societies and other interest bodies in the technical review process of the current Interim Constitution of Southern Sudan, which is being facilitated under the auspices of the SPLM-led Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS).
He called upon UNMIS and the international community to play an advisory role, especially in order that the SPLM-led GOSS honour the agreement reached during the “All South Sudanese political parties’ conference” in October 2010. He pointed out that lessons should be learned from the consequences of discrimination, which directly led to over 3 million lives being lost during the civil war and more than 2 million people being displaced. He told UNMIS that this time nobody should be discriminated against or sidelined. All South Sudanese are stakeholders and will not accept any form of discrimination by any party or government.

Mr Mbugoniwia went further to explain the USSP vision of unity of all South Sudanese citizens (as enshrined in the name of the Party) and the way forward, starting with the constitutional review process, which must include all political parties, civil societies, churches and other interest groups to discuss about what type of government is ideal for South Sudan, the duration of the transitional period and the formation of a broad-based government encompassing all political formations and the percentages of power sharing in such a government.

UNMIS = United Nations Mission in Sudan