UN appeals to donors to back peace process in Sudan

KHARTOUM, Sept 29 (AFP) — The United Nations has appealed to donors to support dramatic progress made by the Sudanese government and southern rebels towards ending their 20-year civil war, the UN office said here Monday.

Mukesh Kapila, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sudan, said the United Nations stands ready to provide humanitarian, transitional and development support to the peace process, in a news statement faxed to AFP.

He urged donors to respond “generously” to emergency needs for the war-affected people of Sudan and to back new transitional programmes to bolster the peace process, the statement said.

The total budget for 2003 priority relief and new post-conflict prorgrammes is 316.2 million dollars.

That includes 173.3 million dollars for the 2003 emergency operations and 142.3 million dollars for what the UN office calls a Quick Start Peace Impact Programme that includes aid to west Sudan’s Darfur region, the statement added.

“After 20 years of war, the Sudanese people need to see some tangible benefits of peace and a practical expression of international commitment as soon as possible,” Kapila was quoted by the statement as saying.

The UN office said achievement of peace did not imply an immediate reduction in humanitarian assistance.

On the contrary, an increase in emergency needs is expected due to the movements of millions of displaced people, the return of refugees from neighbouring countries, and the demobilisation and reintegration of the armed forces.

Sudanese President Omar el-Beshir said Sunday in Qatar that he hoped to reach a final peace settlement with the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), before the end of the year to end Africa’s longest-running civil war.

The SPLA and Khartoum on Thursday signed an agreement at peace talks in Kenya on security issues, seen as a key step in reaching a comprehensive accord.

They had already agreed to a six-year post-war interim period of self-rule for the south.

The next round of Sudanese peace talks is scheduled for October 6.

Sudan’s north-south civil war dates back to the 19th century and beyond. Its latest phase began when the SPLA took up arms in 1983. Since then, more than 1.5 million people have been killed and four million displaced.

The war takes place against a background of domination of the mainly black African, animist or Christian south by the Arab, Islamic north, but has become increasingly driven by a fight for control of natural resources, notably oil.