Comments on: Special Envoy Woes http://standcanada.org/2009/03/14/special-envoy-woes/ Making It Easy to Act Against Genocide Thu, 24 Nov 2011 03:15:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: widge http://standcanada.org/2009/03/14/special-envoy-woes/comment-page-1/#comment-83 widge Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:33:15 +0000 http://standcanada.org/wp/2009/03/14/special-envoy-woes/#comment-83 Hi Ian,<br /><br />I agree wholeheartedly that Canada should renew its committement to Sudan by appointing a new Special Envoy since the previous one, Senator Mobina Jaffer, ended her appointment in 2006.<br /><br />It is important now more than ever because Sudan is in its fourth year since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Government of Sudan and the Southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement.<br /><br />International observation and genuine understanding of the situation in all of Sudan (not just Darfur) is crucial if the international community is to help the tenuous peace agreement remain... peaceful.<br /><br />I was in Southern Sudan last winter for about seven weeks and am just beginning to get a sense of the complexities facing the entire country if peace is to remain and not become just another phase of peaceful wrangling before the next decades-long war to devastate the already vulnerable part of the country.<br /><br />General elections are scheduled for February 2010. These are the country's first (hopefully) democratic elections in Sudan in decades, which will must be peaceful, fair and without either internal or international manipulation if peace in Sudan is to be viable in the long run.<br /><br />Last week, a high-level meeting took place in Washington, DC on June 23, 2009 to discuss the implementation of Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Since Canada does not have a Special Envoy for Sudan, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs sent his Parliamentary Secretary Deepak Obhrai to head the meetings. Perhaps he is the next envoy, although I do not think it should be an elected Member of Parliament who should be an envoy, particularly during current minority governments and pending elections.<br /><br />If the Canadian Government is serious about helping Sudan implement the CPA, it should appoint a new special envoy to Sudan. The SE should be someone knowledgeable about Sudanese affairs and African geopolitics, and should be able to hold onto the role as SE for a minimum of a few years to be able to follow the evolution of the peace process in Sudan to after its six-year interim period that ends in 2011 with a possible independence referendum for the South. Hi Ian,

I agree wholeheartedly that Canada should renew its committement to Sudan by appointing a new Special Envoy since the previous one, Senator Mobina Jaffer, ended her appointment in 2006.

It is important now more than ever because Sudan is in its fourth year since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Government of Sudan and the Southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement.

International observation and genuine understanding of the situation in all of Sudan (not just Darfur) is crucial if the international community is to help the tenuous peace agreement remain… peaceful.

I was in Southern Sudan last winter for about seven weeks and am just beginning to get a sense of the complexities facing the entire country if peace is to remain and not become just another phase of peaceful wrangling before the next decades-long war to devastate the already vulnerable part of the country.

General elections are scheduled for February 2010. These are the country's first (hopefully) democratic elections in Sudan in decades, which will must be peaceful, fair and without either internal or international manipulation if peace in Sudan is to be viable in the long run.

Last week, a high-level meeting took place in Washington, DC on June 23, 2009 to discuss the implementation of Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Since Canada does not have a Special Envoy for Sudan, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs sent his Parliamentary Secretary Deepak Obhrai to head the meetings. Perhaps he is the next envoy, although I do not think it should be an elected Member of Parliament who should be an envoy, particularly during current minority governments and pending elections.

If the Canadian Government is serious about helping Sudan implement the CPA, it should appoint a new special envoy to Sudan. The SE should be someone knowledgeable about Sudanese affairs and African geopolitics, and should be able to hold onto the role as SE for a minimum of a few years to be able to follow the evolution of the peace process in Sudan to after its six-year interim period that ends in 2011 with a possible independence referendum for the South.

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