(SV)

National Assembly (NA) justified the retabling of Referendum Bill endorsed last week as it was not signed by the NA Speaker and ratified by the President of the Republic. In its session yesterday chaired by its speaker, Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Tahir,

the parliament passed the law by majority after considering the amendments in the controversial articles (27) and (67).
MP Ahmed Al-Tigani Al-Gaali objected the said step while the blocs of Democratic National Alliance (DNA), Darfur Peace and East Front walk out of the session.

Al-Tahir admitted that the majority of the Southerners are not aware of the CPA or to the options of unity and secession suggested by the said referendum considering that the absence of communication within the areas of the South is an obstacle for the Southerners to define their option.
He puts the responsibility of enlightening the southern people on the elites from the region on the said options saying that the best option for the south is unity of the Sudan indicating that passing of the laws is not enough to meet the aspirations of the southerners.

On his part, deputy head of the emergency committee, Dr. Ismail Al-Haj Musa, explained that the paragraph 3 of the article (27) has been amended while the amendment also included paragraph 3 in the article (67).
Meanwhile, the parliamentary member, Ahmed Al-Tigani Al-Gaali refuted the resort of the NA speaker on the articles (107) and (108) in the constitution to retable the said Law.

NA deputy speaker, Atem Garang affirmed that the Referendum Act which was endorsed yesterday doesn't mean the secession of the South but it is a referendum on self-determination right calling on all political parties to work for the unity of the country.

The NCP leading figure, Ibrahim Ghandour, considered the comment of Atem Garang as reflecting the spirit of the two partners towards unity affirming that paragraph 4 which was added promotes unity.

The blocs of Democratic National Alliance (DNA), Darfur Peace and East Front announced in a joint press conference their rejection to what they called the negligence of the two partners to them on the issues of democratic transformation and endorsed laws through bilateral agreements.
In statement issued by the said blocs yesterday, they affirmed their rejection of the way through which the two partners drafted the said law and related procedures regardless of the interest of the country and without the participation of all the political forces.

On his part, the parliamentary member, Mohammed Abdullah Adam (Wad Abouk) warned the two partners to pass the Abeyi referendum bill in its current version announcing the approval of Messeriya on the amendments made on the article (24) pointing out that articles from (1) to (24) are agreed upon accusing SPLM attempts to reconsider the bill after it was endorsed in the previous stages.