Sudan Gov’t, Rebels Agree on Oil Revenue

By ANDREW ENGLAND Associated Press Writer

NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 22, 2003 (AP) — The government and rebels have moved a step closer to ending Sudan’s 20-year civil war after agreeing on how to divide the country’s oil revenue – a key stumbling block in the peace talks, the chief mediator said Sunday.

Lazaro Sumbeiywo told The Associated Press the two sides had agreed in principle on how to share the oil revenue and were working to reach a full agreement on wealth sharing.

“It’s a major breakthrough. It was one of the contentious issues holding back the talks,” Sumbeiywo said.

Yasir Arman, spokesman for the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army, or SPLA, said a joint committee was working to finalize a comprehensive wealth sharing agreement “anytime now.”

“We have resolved some difficult points on wealth sharing,” Arman said. “We have made a real breakthrough.”

Amin Hassan Omar, a member of the government delegation, told Sudan’s official news agency that a deal could be reached on wealth sharing by the time the latest session of talks ends.

“If the negotiations continue on the right track then there is a possibility of reaching a memorandum of understanding on the sharing of wealth by the end of this round of negotiations,” Omar was quoted as saying.

It is not clear when this session of talks, which is being held in the Kenyan town of Naivasha, 60 miles northwest of Nairobi, will end.

The struggle for resources has been one of the main issues in Africa’s longest-running conflict, which broke out in 1983 when southern rebels from the mainly animist and Christian south took up arms against the predominantly Arab and Muslim north. The rebels say they are fighting for greater equality for the south and for the right to choose on being part of Sudan.

Sudan began producing oil in 1999 from fields mainly located along an imaginary line that divides southern and northern Sudan, and is producing some 250,000 barrels a day.

When production began, the rebels and international human rights groups accused the Sudanese government of forcing tens of thousands of southern villagers to flee the oil region.

The latest session of negotiations had been expected to adjourn Friday for the Christmas holidays.

But the talks continued after the parties failed to reach any agreement on the outstanding issues, which also include the SPLA’s representation in a transitional government and the administration of three disputed areas in central Sudan.

Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha and SPLA leader John Garang have been leading the negotiations since September and achieved a major breakthrough that month by agreeing that the SPLA should retain its forces in the south during the six-year transition period.

In October, Secretary of State Colin Powell met Garang and Taha in Naivasha and called on the sides to reach a comprehensive agreement by the end of the year.

Powell called the parties on Friday to encourage them to move forward, the State Department said.

The war has claimed more than 2 million lives, mainly due to war-induced famine, and has wreaked havoc on the impoverished south.

Shortly after the negotiations began in July 2002, the parties agreed to a six-year transition period after which southerners will vote in a referendum on whether the south should secede.