Check against delivery

Ladies and gentlemen,
friends,

Welcome to Oslo! I am so pleased that you are here.

It is an honour to open this conference for NGOs and civil society groups working in Sudan. You have the potential to be key forces in the implementation of the peace agreement - to help steer the new Sudan in the right direction.

The signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement by the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) in Nairobi on 9 January was an historic event – for Sudan, Africa, and the world. This agreement could well be the most important event in modern Sudanese history.

Sudan has an agreement – now it must be translated into action. Words on paper are only the beginning. The true value of the peace agreement will lie in its implementation, word by word, letter by letter. This task will be even more challenging than the negotiations themselves. The people on the ground must experience the benefits of the agreement - or their patience will soon run out.

The new unity government will have the main responsibility for the implementation of the agreement. But your role, both as part of the implementation and as watchdogs of the new government, will be crucial as well.

I see three immediate challenges for the Sudanese political leadership now:

First, making the Comprehensive Peace Agreement truly national. This means widening the ownership of the agreement by including other political parties and forces in Sudan in the constitutional process and the new government of national unity. It also means South-South dialogue. It means involving militia, civil society groups, women, professions societies and others in the implementation process and the new political set-up.

Second, implementing the peace agreement. Here the first stage is the most critical. Swift implementation will strengthen both support for the agreement and its sustainability. After some delays, new institutions have now been set up in accordance with the protocols. Specifically the establishment of the Joint National Transition Team. I am very pleased that this entity will represent the GOS and the SPLM at the donors’ conference that is to start on Monday. Moreover, the fact that the SPLM has sent advance teams to Khartoum and other cities in the Northern Sudan and in GOS controlled Southern Sudan is irrefutable evidence that things are changing.

The Government of National Unity will be formed towards the end of the pre-interim period, in May or June. We expect far-reaching reforms as a result:

• At the national level – lifting the state of emergency, normalising political life, and reforming the various governmental institutions. It will also call for increasing local autonomy, decentralisation, the sharing of power and wealth, good governance and the inclusion of the wider civil society. As the agreement says, respect for human rights and democracy must be the foundation for a Sudan where all disenfranchised groups are included. This is the two parties’ national responsibility.

• At the regional level – in the South: establishing the Government of Southern Sudan. This will mean transforming the SPLM from a rebel movement into a civilian government, establishing new government structures in the South, building capacity for civilian management in devastated areas. Key elements will be decentralisation, inclusion of other armed groups, transparency, accountability and service delivery.

Third, taking responsibility for building peace in all parts of the country. This is of particular importance for Darfur and the East. It is the marginalisation of these areas that has led to the problems. The Naivasha agreement provides solutions for the conflicts. The primary responsibility for finding a political solution rests with the current government of Sudan, but it is certainly also in the interest of the SPLM to ensure that these problems are solved. As a new unity government, they will very soon have to tackle these issues together.

But the Sudanese people cannot succeed in building peace in their country without international backing. The devastation of the war, the widespread poverty, and the international implications of the conflict make peace in Sudan a joint challenge and a joint responsibility. The donors’ conference will serve to highlight this responsibility and give the international community a chance to pledge their firm support to both the humanitarian assistance and the long-term development in Sudan.

We know from experience that peace is fragile. It needs attention, protection and nurturing. We also know that history overflows with examples of promising peace efforts gone awry, opportunities missed and mistakes made. In fact, more than half of all peace agreements fail, and the parties slide back into war.

The peace process therefore has continue and be an integral part of the new government’s political actions. The process should change from making peace to building peace.

Peace building has three important dimensions: political development, security reform and social and economic development. All three dimensions will have to be integral parts of the implementation of the peace agreement. While the primary responsibility for peace building rests with the Sudanese themselves, the international community has a role to play as well. The role of the civil society, NGOs, churches, women’s groups, professional societies, farmers groups and others will of course be vital in the peace building in Sudan. This must be fully acknowledged by the Sudanese leaders.

You, the civil society, have several important roles to play:

• as watchdogs - to monitor the political process, to expose gaps between rhetoric and reality.
• as advocates – as the voice of the poor and the weak. You can help to amplify their message. You can make sure their rights are taken into account where decisions are made.
• as actors in the field - in the delivery of development and relief assistance.

All of these are important if Sudan is to succeed in building peace.

The post-conflict reconstruction process in Southern Sudan will be extremely challenging, in view of both the needs of the people and the limited capacity the regional government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) will have for addressing these challenges.

They are virtually starting from square one. The GOSS will be entirely dependent on assistance from others for its ability to deliver services to its people.

Many NGOs and UN agencies are already established in Southern Sudan. They have extensive experience in service delivery, and they have the potential capacity that is needed to ensure rapid implementation of the programmes that are envisaged in the JAM report. Given its serious capacity limitations, the GOSS will not be able to ensure public service delivery for a long time. Hence there is a need to establish arrangements that can be used systematically, in particular by NGOs and UN agencies active in the field. Such service delivery by proxies should be regarded as a necessary measure to meet public expectations and demand.

The SPLM leadership is now favourably considering a model where the GOSS establishes contractual relationships through its line ministries with NGOs and international organisations (UNDP, UNICEF, WFP, etc.) as well as with private companies and local community-based organisations for service delivery on the ground. Such a model has also been discussed with UN representatives in Rumbek, as well as with key international NGOs now working on service delivery in Southern Sudan. It is important that all service delivery agencies are prepared for this discussion.

Most organisations and agencies involved in service delivery are today funded through individual projects financed by donors. This financial model gives less ownership of the reconstruction process to the GOSS, and it makes donor co-ordination more difficult. Moreover, it may also complicate capacity building in the line ministries, and make transparency and accountability in the transfer and utilisation of funds more difficult.

The GOS and the SPLM have chosen as part of the peace agreement to use the Multi Donor Trust Funds (MDTF) as the main financing mechanism for international support to the service delivery to Sudan.

The MDTF will primarily be support mechanisms for the GOSS, and the GOSS will have decisive influence over which programmes to support, and in this way maximise Sudanese ownership. Both multilateral agencies and international NGOs and others involved in service delivery should therefore relate to this system.

The World Bank will establish and administer the MDTF for Southern Sudan. International funding for the development will, as far as possible, be through this trust fund. Likewise, the GOSS will have to establish transparent funding mechanisms that can handle the substantial income from oil and other natural resources. The major advantage of this approach is that all actors involved - countries, organisations, institutions - will be working within the same framework, that donors will pool their development assistance, and that the GOSS can add their own financial resources to international funding in a co-ordinated way.

It is imperative that all agencies involved in service delivery in Southern Sudan work within this new financial framework, and that we avoid a situation where the most important of these actors are funded through project finance outside the GOSS system. This has happened in a number of post-conflict countries before. We know that weak states are generally not strengthened, and capacity is seldom built, if most of the aid circumvents governments. This is exactly what happened in Southern Sudan in the former peace period between 1972 and 1983. An agreement on a new service delivery model for Southern Sudan is therefore very important.

It is now essential that all relevant actors are prepared to discuss these issues. I will urge you to take up this discussion, and look into how you can cooperate with both the new government in Sudan and donors.

We share the same goal: to assist in the implementation of the peace agreement and help build a new Sudan that will benefit all Sudanese.

Peace is not built by a signature on a piece of paper, peace is built by actions – day by day. This work is far too important to be left to politicians alone; in fact peace building will fail if it is left to politicians alone.

We depend on you, the civil society, to help create the Sudan we all want to see: A Sudan of peace, of prosperity, of progress.

Civil society must be part of the process of peace building. If we work together, it can be done. You can count on the support of the Norwegian Government.

I wish you every success in your efforts.

Thank you.