Sudan warring factions to extend truce – minister
By Wangui Kanina
NAIVASHA, Kenya, Sept 21 (Reuters) – Sudan’s government and main rebel group agreed on Sunday to extend a ceasefire at peace talks aimed at ending a 20-year war which has killed some two million people.
“One of the things we have agreed as a first measure will be an extension of the cessation of hostilities agreement,” Kenyan Foreign Minister Kalonzo Musyoka, who is mediating between the warring factions, told reporters.
“This will be extended for another two months and an agreement to that effect will be signed.” The current truce had been due to expire on September 30.
John Garang, head of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), and First Vice-President Ali Osman Mohamed have been locked in peace talks for more than two weeks at Lake Naivasha, some 90 km (55 miles) from the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
Civil war broke out in Africa’s largest country in 1983 with the Islamist government in the north against rebels fighting for more autonomy in the mainly animist and Christian south.
Musyoka said he was “very encouraged” about the talks.
“The two brothers will continue to talk and they will work very, very hard,” he said. “The amount of international goodwill is simply overwhelming and everybody in Sudan is looking forward to the successful outcome of these consultations.”
“TWO MONTHS ENOUGH”
A regional analyst closely following the talks welcomed the ceasefire extension which is a month shorter than previous ones.
“The shorter period puts pressure on the parties to reach a final peace settlement within two months,” he said.
Garang who met Musyoka earlier on Sunday told reporters: “Two months are enough to reach a final peace settlement.
Despite agreeing last year to give southerners the right to a referendum on secession after a six-year transitional period, the two sides are still struggling to agree on several issues including how to manage security during the interim period.
Talks are currently mired over the size of an integrated force and where these troops should be deployed.
Delegates are also discussing how to divide wealth from the south’s lucrative oilfields, how to share power and whether the capital Khartoum in the north should be subject to Islamic law.
Analysts agree that Taha and Garang, who have held regular face-to-face talks since meeting each other for the first time in Naivasha, are under acute pressure to strike a deal.
“The decision-makers are all there, so there can be no excuses about not having the right people in the room. If the process collapses now, it will be the responsibility of specific individuals,” John Prendergast of the International Crisis Group said earlier this week.
The two sides first signed a temporary truce in October last year. It has been renewed several times as initial timescales for a comprehensive peace deal to end the longest running conflict on the continent have proved over-ambitious.