Arab League is paying only lip service to Sudan

The South Sudan referendum on the potential secession is just two months away. And the Arab world doesn't seem to have a plan to deal with this decisive vote. Few weeks ago, the Arab League said, following an extraordinary summit, that it was supporting the unity of Sudan. But who isn't? The referendum is a key part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed in 2005 to end the civil war in Sudan. It is evident that few Arab officials know what is stipulated in the CPA concerning the South's plebiscite, which could very well lead to the disintegration of Sudan, the largest Arab country. Otherwise, they would keep paying lip service to Sudan's unity. The CPA offers a number of options by which the Arab world can, peacefully and democratically, keep Sudan united.

The agreement allows the Arab League to offer the southerners, who have complained for long of marginalisation and underdevelopment, a real alternative to separation by taking up credible and meaningful development projects. Some might say it is too late. It is not.

Some of the southerners might opt for separation any way. But the Arab world has not even made one practical initiative to win the hearts and minds of the majority of the southerners who, according to some reports, were until recently undecided.

Even if the majority voted for secession, at least history would treat us with leniency for having tried to save the unity of that country. Arab public opinion has been calling for action for months. But the only official response is the soothing, albeit empty words of League officials urging southerners to vote for unity — similar to the lip service we pay to the integrity of the occupied Jerusalem, the Arab city which is being eaten up piece by piece by the Israelis.