Sudan president says southern peace very close

KHARTOUM, April 5 (Reuters) – A deal to end more than two decades of civil war in southern Sudan is very close, Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said in a speech prepared for Monday.

Talks between the Islamist government in Khartoum and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) in Naivasha, Kenya have stalled in recent weeks over the status of the oil-rich Abyei area, claimed by both sides.

But Bashir, in an address to the Sudanese parliament, said a final agreement would be signed soon, although he did not give any date.

“The talks have progressed a lot and the stage of signing the final and comprehensive agreement is very close,” he said, according to a text of his speech obtained by Reuters.

The southern conflict broadly pits Khartoum against the mainly animist, Christian south, complicated by issues of oil, ethnicity and ideology. The civil war has claimed about two million lives.

“Whatever the obstacles or hindrances in the negotiations, there is a determination to overcome them with calmness and confidence and to pursue the process to the end,” he said.

In March, the United States tabled a fresh proposal saying Abyei would belong to both the north and south, with the region’s oil revenues split 50-42 percent to Khartoum and the SPLM respectively. The remainder would go to local tribes.

But little progress has been seen, with the contentious issue of power-sharing also still to be resolved.

Bashir said it had made its position clear on the contentious issues, but was ready to consider other options.

“It (the government) is now ready to study any reconciliatory proposals…in a manner that will protect the rights of all,” the president said.