US abandons hope for Sudan peace deal by agreed deadline
WASHINGTON, Dec 31 (AFP) — The United States has abandoned hope that the Sudan’s government and southern rebels will meet a self-imposed end-of-year deadline for sealing a peace deal, a senior US official said as the hours of 2003 ran out.
But the official, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, said Washington remained convinced that an agreement could be forged in the early part of the new year and would keep up pressure on both sides.
“It doesn’t look like they’re going to get there today,” the official said. “But we’re hopeful for early next year.
“They are really close and we’re going to keep up the pressure, we’re not going to let this slide,” the official said. “The game is not up.”
Meanwhile, the State Department allowed that the December 31 deadline would likely “slip” but stressed that Washington’s resolve to see a deal reached remained steady.
“That deadline may slip, it probably will slip,” deputy spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters. “But the important point to make is that they are very close.
“There are really just small issues dividing them,” he said. “We think there is a historic opportunity here, that the moment should be seized.”
US President George W. Bush has made peace in Sudan a priority for his administration and in recent weeks both he and Secretary of State Colin Powell have telephoned the principals to urge them to finalize negotiations to end the two-decade old civil war.
Most recently, Powell spoke on Tuesday with Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir and the head of Khartoum’s delegation at the peace talks in Naivasha, Kenya, Vice President Ali Osman Taha, as well as John Garang, the leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) rebels.
Bush spoke with Beshir and Garang by phone earlier this month as the talks entered their final stage with just three areas — power- and wealth-sharing and the status of three contested areas — left outstanding.
Mediators at the talks said Wednesday that the two sides had made progress on three disputed regions: Abyei, southern Blue Nile State and the Nuba Mountains.
Chief mediator Lazaro Sumbeiywo, a retired Kenyan army general, said it was “impossible to agree on a comprehensive peace agreement by the end of the year,” but added that protocols on the three areas and on wealth-sharing could still be reached by the deadline.
Beshir was quoted on Tuesday as saying that he expected a deal to be reached by next week, noting that agreements had been reached on many contentious points since Powell visited the peace talks in October and secured the two sides’ commitments to reach a pact by December 31.
The war in Sudan, which erupted in 1983, is the longest on the African continent. It has pitted the south, where most observe traditional African religions and Christianity, against the Muslim, Arabized north.
The conflict has claimed at least 1.5 million lives and displaced an estimated four million people.
Previous rounds of talks, also in Kenya, have yielded success, first in 2002 when the foes agreed that, after six years of self-rule the south will hold a referendum on whether to join the north, or secede.