Sudan says to continue southern peace talks

KHARTOUM, Oct 4 (Reuters) – Sudan will continue efforts to end its two-decade-long war with southern guerrillas despite an accusation by a rebel leader that Khartoum is dragging its feet over a peace deal, the country’s president said on Monday.

The government and southern rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) are to meet in Kenya on Oct. 7, a meeting rebels say has been delayed several times, to finalise a deal to end 21 years of fighting in the south of the oil-producing country.

“There are some types of negative political behaviour in some of the statements from the SPLM. This is outside the spirit of political participation between the government and the SPLM,” President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said.

“Despite this, the government will continue peace talks. The government delegation to the talks will leave at the end of this week,” he added in comments to mark the opening of parliament.

SPLM leader John Garang said last week that Africa’s largest country, which is facing a separate conflict in the western Darfur region, could fall apart unless the government stopped dragging its feet over a peace agreement for the south.

Agreements signed with the SPLM so far cover how to share power and wealth in Sudan, which produces about 300,000 barrels of oil per day, worth more than $4 billion a year. The deals also offer a southern referendum on secession after a six-year interim period.

The war in the south erupted in 1983 when rebels in the predominantly animist and Christian area demanded more autonomy from the mainly Muslim north.

The conflict has killed around two million people, mainly through disease and hunger.

Bashir also said the government agreed to an increase in the number of African Union peace monitors and accompanying troops sent to the Darfur region to monitor an April ceasefire between Khartoum and the two main rebel groups in the area.

“But the African troops must not interfere with the government’s role. The government’s role is to protect citizens,” he added. He did not say how many troops he would agree to allow into Darfur.

The United States has labelled the violence in Darfur genocide, blaming killings on Khartoum and the Arab militias, known as Janjaweed.

The U.N. Security Council has threatened Sudan with possible sanctions if it fails to stop the violence, which has continued despite a ceasefire agreed between the government and rebels in Chad in April.