Sudanese army welcomes truce but fears “no peace, no war”
KHARTOUM, Sept 24 (AFP) — The Sudanese army on Wednesday welcomed the extension of a truce with the southern rebels as a chance to boost peace negotiations, but warned a state of “no-war, no-peace” also carried risks.
The two-month extension “strengthens confidence, brings opinions closer and unifies understanding on security and military issues,” army spokesman General Mohamed Beshir Suleiman was quoted by the official SUNA news agency as saying.
The spokesman warned however that the ceasefire, which was due to expire at the end of this month but was on Sunday extended until the end of November, would not lead to a lasting peace by itself.
“We fear that a continued cessation of hostilities will not go beyond a state of no-peace, no-war which will in itself become a problem whose complications do not differ from those of the war,” said Suleiman.
“The objective sought by everyone is a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire that ends up in achieving peace which is the strategic goal,” said the general.
He remarked that the current peace negotiations in Naivasha, Kenya were aimed at resolving the issue of the size and deployment of the forces of the two sides, a matter which “is governed by strategic considerations and falls in the context of national security”.
Sudanese First Vice President Ali Osman Taha and rebel leader John Garang Garang have been locked in peace talks in Naivasha, 80 kilometres (50 miles) northwest of Nairobi, since September 4.
They are currently trying to hammer out the details of how government troops and rebel forces will be deployed once a final accord is signed.
The Islamist government in Khartoum and the rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, based in the mainly Christian and animist south, have been fighting since 1983.
Under an agreement signed in Kenya in July last year, the south will enjoy autonomy from Khartoum during a six-year interim period 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.