Arman objects to NCP plan to strip Southerners of citizenship

The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement objected to the National Congress Party’s plan to formally strip citizenship from Southerners living in North Sudan. The SPLM Deputy Secretary-General for Northern Sector, Yasser Arman, rejected the National Congress Party’s proposal to allow only a six months grace period with regard to nationality for Southerners. The chief of the AU Commission for Sudan, Thabo Mbeki, suggested a period of seven years. Arman said that the movement proposed that there would be no specific time period with regard to nationality. Arman refused the position of the National Congress plan, in the event of separation, to deprive the Southerners of their nationality and all rights. He noted that the issue of citizenship can be solved politically.