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| Africa Horn |
| Ethiopia warns against Sudan war |
| 2010-11-24 |
| [Pak Daily Times] Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi warned of 'ghastly' consequences for Africa if Sudan returns to war after a crucial referendum on southern independence in January. Africa's biggest country is 47 days away from a plebiscite in its oil-producing south on whether to secede or remain part of Sudan -- a vote promised in the 2005 peace deal that ended decades of north-south war. That conflict, the longest civil war in African history, killed about 2 million people and forced 4 million to flee. "Like all doomsday scenarios (a return to war) is too ghastly to contemplate," Meles, who hosted crunch Sudan talks in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, told Rooters in an interview. "That is why we have to use everything in our capacity to stop it from happening because the alternative is massively destructive not only for Sudan or the Horn of Africa, but the continent as whole." Meles said all-out war was 'possible but not inevitable'. Both sides have ramped up their rhetoric, having failed to overcome differences on issues including voter eligibility in the disputed oil-rich Abyei region. UN Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon said last week he hoped to boost the number of peacekeepers in Sudan amid fears the country could be headed for a new civil war. Death threats: On the other hand, South Sudanese living in Uganda have received death threats and warnings not to register for a vote on the independence of their region, a development that could undermine the referendum, officials said on Tuesday. Staff from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) running the registration have also received menacing calls and letters, disrupting the preparations for January's referendum, said officials. |
| Posted by:Fred |