Midnight deal

At last the political parties have agreed to extend the term of the Constituent Assembly (CA). Never mind that the deal was sealed literally an hour before midnight when the CA would have automatically expired. Also never mind that the whole country was left to hold its breath till the last minute. Congratulations to the leaders that they have once again proven they are capable of pulling off a miracle in the end. And also congratulations to them in that they have continued their tradition of not negotiating in earnest and not reaching a deal till the very last minute!



Forget how poorly the deal was negotiated and forget how frustrating the negotiating process was. That they have indeed reached a deal in the end is so important as failure to do so could have pushed the country into anarchy. If the leaders had failed to extend the CA´s term, we would have been thrown into the worst of uncertain times. We can rightfully blame the leaders for where we are today but we must also thank them for salvaging the country from the brink, at least for now.



Though the leaders have given themselves another chance by extending the CA term, the road ahead is not easy, nor is it certain. The leaders will now have to immediately get down to the task of negotiating the contentious issues of peace process and constitution writing. Though the prime minister has offered to make way for the formation of a national unity government no such government is possible unless the parties agree on all the disputed issues. Let´s remember that there has been hardly any progress in taking the peace process to a logical end even three years after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).



Nor has there been any common understanding on key issues of the future constitution-- modality of federation and form of governance.



We cannot hope the parties will achieve understanding on either of these unless they build trust and also change their way of doing things. Since we have now extended the CA term, which nearly expired precisely because of the attitude of the leaders, can we now expect something different from them? Will you no longer blackmail each other and hold the country hostage? The parties must change their attitude, their behavior and working style to see the implementation of the present and future agreements through. Likewise, a great deal of skill, honesty, flexibility and competence will be required to write the constitution in time, to federalize the country, and to conclude the peace process. We can only hope the leaders will draw lessons from the lost opportunity of the past two years and focus on the task at hand. There can be no further excuse for failure, and there cannot be another term extension.

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