Sudan peace talks to adjourn Sunday, resume next month: Khartoum press

KHARTOUM, Aug 22 (AFP) — Talks in Kenya to end Sudan’s 20-year civil war will adjourn Sunday and resume in September, the independent Al Rai Al Aam newspaper of Khartoum said Friday.

The delegations representing Khartoum and the southern rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) have agreed to end as scheduled on Sunday the current seventh round of talks, the daily said in a report from the negotiations’ venue in Nanyuki, Kenya.

They also agreed to resume in Kenya next month the talks held under the auspices of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) which groups Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda and, nominally, Somalia.

The seventh round achieved no progress on how power and resources can be shared during a six-year interim period of self-rule for southern Sudan.

During that round, Khartoum renewed its objection to a draft document unveiled by IGAD, saying it provided for measures that would ultimately lead to the secession of southern Sudan.

Khartoum and the SPLA struck a breakthrough accord in July 2002 granting the south the right to self-determination after a six-year transition period and exempting this mainly Christian and animist region from Islamic laws.

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