US hopes for year-end peace pact in Sudan

WASHINGTON, Dec 23 (AFP) — The United States said that it harbored hopes for peace between rebels and the Sudanese government by year’s end.

“We’re not at a point quite yet where I can say it’s wrapped up or that they have agreed, but they did promise the Secretary (of State Colin Powell) and have subsequently worked with us to try to keep to their commitment to finish the talks by the end of this year,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

Powell spoke Friday with the two top negotiators by telephone: Sudan’s Vice President Ali Osman and John Garang, head of the rebel Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA).

On Friday, the sides reached a rough agreement on sharing 50-50 the proceeds from the country’s 300,000 daily barrels of oil.

The war in Sudan, which erupted in 1983, has pitted the south, where most observe traditional African religions and Christianity, against the Muslim, Arabised north.

The conflict has claimed at least 1.5 million lives and displaced an estimated four million people.