South Sudan says Khartoum is reneging on CPA deal

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - A southern Sudanese government official accused the Khartoum government Tuesday of trying to sabotage the right of south Sudan's people to self-determination through a referendum.

Deng Ajack, the south's minister for cooperation, said the north's National Congress Party (NCP) was trying to undermine the terms of the 2005 peace deal that ended a 22-year war between Sudan's Muslim north and mostly Christian south.

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) provides for a January 2011 referendum in southern Sudan on whether its people want an independent country.

"The Government of South Sudan (GOSS) would like to express its deep concern at the danger coming to Sudan as a result of the NCP's dangerous attempt to sabotage and betray the right of the people of south Sudan to self-determination," Ajack told a meeting of the African Union's (AU) Peace and Security Council.

"GOSS and south Sudan's people will not entertain any delay of the referendum ... which is a clear violation of the CPA."

He gave no details, except to say that the "signals" coming from the NCP were that it was trying to renege on the deal.

Ramatane Lamamra, AU commissioner for peace and security, said the implementation of the CPA was crucial for the stability of Sudan and the wider region, and he urged both governments to work together on all issues.

Northern and southern Sudan fought each other for more than two decades in a civil war that was fueled by a mixture of religion, ideology, oil and ethnicity. The conflict is separate from the fighting in Sudan's western Darfur region.

(Reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse; editing by Daniel Wallis and Tim Pearce)