Sudan to hold African, Arab summits in 2006

Aug 31, 2005 (Khartoum) — Sudan will host African and Arab summit meetings in 2006, the country’s president said on Wednesday during the inauguration of a new post-civil war parliament.

“Our country is happy to be hosting at the start of the coming year the African Union summit … We will host the summit of Arab states in the same year,” President Omar Hassan al-Bashir was quoted as saying by Sudan’s SUNA news agency.

A January peace deal between Sudan’s mainly Islamist government and the former rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) paved the way for a new power-sharing system that includes a new parliament and government.

Bashir said the new government, which is split between the ruling National Congress Party, the SPLM and other northern and southern political forces, would be announced soon.

The African Union has around 3,000 mainly Nigerian and Rwandan troops monitoring a shaky ceasefire in Sudan’s western Darfur region, where two main rebel groups have launched a separate rebellion against Khartoum.

The pan-African body is also involved in Darfur’s peace talks, due to start again on Sept. 15 in Abuja.

Reuters/ST