Mr. Solheim's opening statement at the Sudan Consortium in Oslo

Your Excellency Vice President of Sudan, Mr. Ali Osman Taha
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

Let me start with the fact that you Vice President Taha was the architect behind the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). The reason why we are here today is to give support to the full implementation of the agreement and mobilize the necessary financial resources for that to happen.

Let me also introduce and thank former chief negotiator and Special Envoy, General Lazarus Sumbeiywo, who is here as a guest of honour.

We all remember the vital contributions to the peace agreement made by the late John Garang, who so tragically passed away soon after the agreement had been signed.

My heart felt condolences to the people of Sudan on the tragic losses suffered last Friday in yet another accident, where a number of leading politicians died. I would suggest a moments silence in memory of the victims of this tragic accident.

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement ended one of the bloodiest wars in Africa. A twenty year long war. It was a very important achievement. Though there are difficulties, we should not forget that a number of the provisions in the agreement have been implemented. Institutions of power sharing, institutions of wealth sharing, a number of national institutions have all been implemented, spear headed by the government of national unity as well as institutions in the south introduced by the government of Southern Sudan.

These are no minor achievements. No peace process anywhere has ever been a smooth ride from start to finish. There are always hiccups.

As we all know, there are still important aspects of the agreement to be settled. Issues related to the integration of the troops, disarmament, demarcation of borders and others.

We are in a situation where a lot has been done, but a lot also remains. From my experience in other peace processes, I believe that political will is the most important factor in any peace process. Without political will from the major parties, The National Congress Party and the SPLM, it is very difficult for the outside world to assist.

I therefore will take the opportunity to strongly encourage the NCP and the SPLM to mobilize all their political will in order to implement the CPA. I will encourage the NCP to welcome the SPLM as an equal partner in the government and make certain that the SPLM has sufficient political space to operate in the government of national unity and all other institutions of power sharing in Sudan. At the same time I will also encourage the SPLM to work in good spirit in all these institutions and make all efforts in order to ensure that these institutions can work as efficient instruments for the unity of Sudan.

The international community stands united. We want to assist in making unity in Sudan an attractive option.

Sudan is now facing perhaps the most vulnerable phase in any peace process. That is elections. Elections are phases of particular difficulties. We, the international community, think that elections should take place. The ongoing census is a very positive development in that respect and we are ready to assist in order to have free and fair elections.

But we should never forget that the key element in any election, is not only arranging the elections in a proper manner. It is equally important to continue power sharing arrangements after elections. Any election based on the principle of winner takes all, are counter productive to peace and stability.

Let me point to what the UN legend Lakhdar Brahimi once told me about the elections in Angola in 1992. This was in his view perhaps the cleanest most successful election he had ever observed. Everything was carried out by the book. It also prolonged the war in Angola with another 10 years.

It is important to keep this in mind. Proper elections are important, but are also incredibly important that power sharing is continuing in one way or another after elections.

I would also like to mention the issue of women. It has been a male dominated negotiating process and as we see around this table, still is. But women are those suffering the most from conflict. A lot of women have been denied education. A lot of women have been victims of sexual abuse in the conflict.

Women are incredibly important to the future of Sudan and in everything we do from now on we should also take into account a gender perspective. Do not forget that only one out of every hundred girls in Southern Sudan completes 7 years of education. That is of course by any international standard very low. Without including women in political and economic life it is very difficult to develop.

My government is very concerned with the events taking place in Darfur, but we must not allow it to completely overshadow the CPA. Unless the parties are able to move ahead on the CPA, everything else in Sudan, including Darfur, will become much more difficult. This is of course a donors conference where pledging is a key issue, but it is also an opportunity to discuss the wider politics of the agreement. We should take advantage of this opportunity.

Basically all donors have lived up to the pledges made at the last consortium in Oslo in 2005. What was promised has to a large extent been delivered. But we ran into two main difficulties. One was that the structures we produced tended to be a bit come with too much red tape. We therefore should have a close eye on the delivery aspect when pledges are made at this conference. The second problem we ran into was that due to the situation in Darfur, a lot of the resources intended for long term development assistance in the south were delivered as emergency assistance to Darfur. It is an understandable outcome, but it was not the intention.

If we this time around can avoid these circumstances I am sure that the money pledged here at this conference will be put into good use.

The pledging session will be tomorrow, but since I’ve been given the floor I will take this opportunity to announce that the Norwegian government will contribute a total of USD 500 million over 4 years.

We will of course enter into dialogue with all relevant parties about how these resources can be spent in the most efficient way. Sudan was last year the biggest recipient of Norwegian development assistance. This is testimony to our commitment to the peace process and the development of Sudan.

Let me quote Kofi Annan and what he said the last time we were gathered in Oslo in 2005. He said that pledges are fine, but cash is better.

Let us follow this idea. We should pledge, but we should also make certain that it is actually delivered and delivered in a way that makes a difference to the people of Sudan.

Thank you for listening, and again I am very happy that you were all able to attend. We stand united around the aim of making the Comprehensive Peace Agreement a success.