Duty to Sudan

---

Cairo and Khartoum have greeted with joy the signing of a peace agreement between north and south Sudan in Nairobi a few days ago. But our excitement over peace must not make us forget our responsibility towards Sudan's territorial integrity. Sudan's partition, as everyone knows, would be a grave danger for Egypt, whereas its unity would consolidate Egypt's standing in Africa. According to the agreement, the transitional period will be based on justice and democracy, good governance and plurality, human rights and ethnic tolerance. Both north and south have pledged to address the roots of the climate of social injustice. These are the objectives that the Sudanese have set for themselves, and Egypt has ample opportunity to help them along this course.

The achievement of such objectives is what will encourage the southerners to vote for unity come the referendum on self-determination, six years from now. The Egyptian government and people should do their best to make the southerners feel that unity is rewarding, that they have a country to belong to and that they have friends down the Nile. Egypt has a solid network of contacts in Sudan, a network that has become extensive through decades of joint cooperation. Egyptian academia and investors, experts and workers should all become part of Sudan's search for prosperity and development.

Alexandria University has opened a branch in south Sudan, and it is hoped that other major Egyptian universities and civil society groups would follow its lead. Partnership and sharing is good for Sudan's unity. Investment in man and land is the best way to restore Sudan's confidence and stymie interference by soldiers; by those who imagine that the transitional period is nothing other than a trial separation.