Sudan peace talks in trouble
NAIROBI, Sept 12, 2003 (Xinhua) — Talks between the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) are in trouble due to differences over the security arrangement, a source close to the talks said on Friday.
“The talks almost collapsed last night,” the official, who does not want to be identified, told Xinhua by telephone from Naivasha, about 90 km northwest of Nairobi, where the talks are taking place.
According to the official, the rebels say two forces are needed, believing the SPLA should still largely control the south, while the government side has countered the arrangement.
The Sudanese civil war started as the SPLA took up arms fighting for self-determination in the southern part of the country in 1983.
The conflict has left some two million people dead, mostly through war-induced famine and disease.
The Sudanese government and the SPLA began peace talks last July in Kenya, aiming at ending the longest civil war on the African continent, under the auspices of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a seven-member regional group in East Africa, consisting of Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Uganda, Eritrea, Tanzania and the Sudan.
Kenya is the current chairman of the IGAD ministerial sub- committee on the Sudan.
Unfortunately, the seventh round of the Sudan peace talks, supposed to be the last one, ended in Kenya in August with key issues, covering security arrangements in the post-war period, power-sharing arrangements, wealth sharing and the three conflict areas, still unresolved.
Both sides, however, promised to remain in the peace process in the hope of achieving a just, durable and sustainable peace in their country.
Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha and Rebel leader John Garang met in Kenya on Sept. 4 in a bid to push forward the Sudanese peace talks.
Lazaro Sumbeiywo, Kenyan special envoy to the Sudan peace talks and chief negotiator, described the ongoing talks as “the end of the game.”
“Rebel leader John Garang and Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha have to reach agreement,” Sumbeiywo said, adding that a failure would mean the two sides are simply not ready to settle for peace.