Sudan’s FM says peace deal with SPLM within days

CAIRO, May 14, 2004 (Xinhua) — Sudan’s Foreign Minister Mostafa Othman Ismail has revealed that the government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) will sign a peace deal within days in Nairobi, Kenya, Egypt’s official MENA news agency reported on Friday.
Ismail made the remarks in an interview with Kuwaiti daily AL- Siyasa, which published Friday, according to MENA.

He told the newspaper that all sticking points and obstacles to the historic peace deal have been removed.

All previous peace agreements inked by both sides shall fall under a new comprehensive peace deal, the foreign minister said, adding “Sudan will then move to a new era of stability and security.”

A national council for peace will be set up, comprising the government, the SPLM and different political parties to put the peace deal into effect, he further explained.

Earlier on Thursday, SPLM spokesman Yasser Arman also said that a peace deal was likely “within hours,” adding “the deal is possible after resolving almost all the major disputable issues during the Naivasha talks in Kenya.”

Sudan’s government and the SPLM reached last December an agreement on the sharing of oil wealth at talks in Kenya, paving the way for a comprehensive peace accord.

The breakthrough in Sudan peace talks, to end two decades of civil conflict between the north and south, came after marathon talks between Sudan’s Vice President Ali Othman Taha and SPLM Chief John Garang.

In July 2002, the two sides firstly signed an agreement in Kenya, under which the south would enjoy autonomy from Khartoum for six years, following which a referendum will be held to determine whether the south will secede or remain part of Sudan.

The six-year interim period will come into effect once a comprehensive peace agreement is signed.