Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-06-07-Speech-2-293-000"

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"Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I had the opportunity to experience the independence referendum in South Sudan as an electoral observer for Parliament and I was impressed by the major backing given by the South Sudanese people to the idea of deciding on the fate of their country themselves in future. I also witnessed the major expectations of the people who decided on the liberation of their country from bondage. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of what are known as internal displaced persons, who the decades-long fighting in the South had pushed into the refugee camps of the North, set off back to their former homes in the South. Of course, alongside the independence of their country, the people of South Sudan want, above all, to live in peace and find a way to a happier future after the decades of war in which millions of South Sudanese were forced to sacrifice their lives. The new state of South Sudan is due to officially become independent on 9 July, extending the family of states in our world. The starting conditions are as bad as can be conceived, and much has, of course, been said about this already. 70% of the population live as nomadic cattle farmers; 80% are illiterate; the dispute over Abyei is widening into a military conflict. There have already been deaths and woundings. As if that were not enough, the rivalries between the tribes and armed groups in South Sudan are also on the rise, and observers estimate that more than a thousand people have already lost their lives since January. The wounded and violated are hardly even counted. Sudan was a failed state. There is a danger that the state of South Sudan will be a failed state from the very outset. I am of the firm conviction that, given the colonial history of these countries, Europe has a major obligation to this region. Together with the United Nations and the African Union, this situation calls for Europe’s common foreign policy, and it is also that policy’s chance to prove itself. This is not only about money, but also about supporting the frail and nascent civil society. We need to negotiate hard with those who hold the future of the country in their hands, namely, the tribal chiefs and the heads of the military groups, so that they do not dash the hopes of the people of their country."@en1
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