Aid Groups: South Sudan Violence Threatens Peace Deal

The international community should urgently step in to save Sudan’s 2005 peace agreement, aid agencies working in South Sudan have said.

In a report released Thursday, a coalition of ten agencies noted that 2,500 people were killed and more than 350,000 displaced in South Sudan last year, adding that the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended a 21-year civil war between the north and the south was extremely fragile.

The coalition also said the CPA was further threatened by a major upsurge in tribal violence and tensions surrounding two upcoming votes.

Under the CPA, Sudan is expected to carry out national elections in 2010, followed by a 2011 referendum in which the semi-autonomous South will vote on whether to secede or remain a part of a united Sudan. [PE]