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UN envoy extends condolences over passing of former President of Sudan

UN envoy extends condolences over passing of former President of Sudan

The former President of Sudan, Jaafar Nimeiri, (centre) returned home in 1999 after spending 14 years in exile
The Secretary-General's Special Representative to Sudan today commiserated over the passing of the African nation's former President Jaafar Nimeiri.

On behalf of the United Nations, Ashraf Qazi extended his condolences to both the bereaved family and to the people of Sudan.

According to media reports, Government officials announced on Saturday that Mr. Nimeiri, who ruled strife-torn Sudan for 16 years between 1969 and 1985, died at the age of 79 after a long struggle with an unspecified illness.

Mr. Qazi also voiced deep concern on Saturday over deadly tribal clashes in Upper Nile and Jonglei states in southern Sudan which have left hundreds killed, including many women and children, and thousands displaced.

“In recent months, the death rate in southern Sudan from violent conflict has been higher than in Darfur,” Mr. Qazi, who also heads the UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan (UNMIS), said on the conclusion of a two-day visit to the affected areas.

At the beginning of May, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that up to 1,000 people have been killed and over 100,000 uprooted from their homes since January in seven states in Southern Sudan due to violence in the region.

Earlier UNMIS had dispatched some 120 civilian, military and police personnel to Jonglei State, where thousands were taking refuge, in a move aimed at supporting the Government of Southern Sudan in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), and in providing humanitarian assistance and protection to civilians in the state.

Urging the international community, as well as regional and the local actors to address the situation as an urgent priority, Mr. Qazi said that a “secure environment is extremely important for the conduct of elections and the referendum,” underscoring the importance of peacefully implementing the 2005 CPA that ended a 21-year civil war between north and south Sudan.

UNMIS was established by the Security Council to support the Agreement, which was signed by the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People''s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), and in his latest report on Sudan, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that if the CPA collapsed, a humanitarian catastrophe could ensue.