France urges Sudanese belligerents to sign peace accord rapidly?

PARIS, Dec 8, 2003 (KUNA) — The French authorities on Monday urged the ‏‏belligerents in the Sudanese civil war to sign a peace agreement “as quickly ‏‏as possible” and said they welcomed the resumption of negotiations aimed at ‏‏ending the decades-old conflict.‏

Talks between representatives of the Muslim government in Khartoum and ‏‏Christian/Animist forces led by John Garang, resumed after a hiatus that left ‏‏open the possibility fighting would resume again in the south of the country.‏

Meetings between the two sides had been tentatively planned to take place ‏‏in Paris last month, but were cancelled without explanation.‏

Now, however, it appears the two sides are willing to renew efforts to end ‏the bloody war.‏

France “calls on the two parties to show proof of flexibility, in order to ‏‏sign, as quickly as possible, a complete and definitive peace accord, French ‏‏Foreign Ministry spokesman Herve Ladsous said.‏

The French official said his government also welcomed a decision by the ‏‏authorities in Khartoum to allow the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA), ‏‏which Garang leads, to exercise political activities. Indeed, the SPLA is soon ‏‏expected to be transformed from a military to a political entity, a move ‏‏France said is “a positive element.”