US team helps implement Sudan security deal

KHARTOUM, Oct 5 (AFP) — A senior US delegation started Sunday to help Sudan implement a security deal reached with southern rebels seen as a key step in ending the country’s brutal 20-year civil war, officials said.

“The delegation is visiting the Sudan to explore the situation after the conclusion of the security agreement,” Sudanese Foreign Under Secretary Mutref Siddeiq told reporters after meeting with the Americans.

He said that the US delegation, led by retired General Carl Fulford, had already visited the war-torn south before arriving in the capital for talks with officials from the Islamic government.

The state SUNA news agency said Fulford would meet Monday with defence ministry officials on the agreement reached with the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA).

Both parties signed last month a deal which established security arrangements that include integrating some of their forces during an expected six-year transitional period, at the end of which the southern Sudanese would vote for unity or secession.

Sudan’s civil war started when the SPLA took up arms in 1983. Since then, more than 1.5 million people have been killed and four million displaced.

The conflict 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.