PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA CALLS FOR SUDAN CEASEFIRE
President Barack Obama is appealing to the warring sides in Sudan to cease fighting that threatens the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in 2005 to end the country’s 21 year civil war.

President Obama directed an unusual method of recording an audio message directed to the people of Sudan and its leaders.

The United Nations on Tuesday described what it called “huge sufferings” among civilians from air strikes in southern Kordofan on the border with South Sudan, by northern forces directed from Khartoum.

Northern Sudanese troops have battled militia forces in Southern Kordofan, last week seizing control of the Abyei region, on the north south border. Negotiators of both north and south Sudan have been meeting in Addis Ababa, trying to find a solution to that situation.

In his statement on late Tuesday, President Brack Obama said that the fighting must stop.

“There is no military solution” said Barack Obama. He also added to it that the leaders of Sudan and South Sudan must live up to their responsibilities. The government of Sudan must prevent a further rise of this crisis by ceasing its military actions immediately, including aerial bombardments, forced displacements and campaigns of intimidation.

The President’s appeal for a ceasefire comes just a few weeks before the scheduled separation of southern Sudan from the north. Mr. Obama said both sides must agree to end violence, allow free movement of aid workers and relief supplies and fulfill the commitments under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and to resolve the differences peacefully. He warned of increasing isolation to those who did not comply with the conditions of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

In his statements, President Obama said negotiations underway in Ethiopia offer a path to peace. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Addis Ababa earlier this week and met officials from the north and south.

Mr. Obama referred to the scheduled formal independence of Sothern Sudan within three weeks as the creation of world’s newest nation. He also stated that too much progress has been made to allow a collapse. He said “The Sudanese people have come too far and sacrificed too much to see their dreams of a better future slip from their grasp and now is the time for the Sudanese leaders to show the courage and vision that true leadership demands”.

Mr. Obama along with its allies gave his support to end violence and to to protect the innocent civilians in Sudan.

Report by Alka