Southern Sudan residents celebrate signing of security deal

RUMBEK, Sudan (AFP) – Hundreds of people turned up in this dusty town in southern Sudan to celebrate the signing in Kenya last week of a transitional security deal between Khartoum and southern rebels.

In Rumbek, 900 kilometres (560 miles), south of Khartoum, women, children and men sang in praise of the agreement signed between John Garang, the leader of the southern-based Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and Sudan’s vice president Osman Ali Taha.

The deal, signed on September 25 in the Kenyan town of Naivasha, established security arrangements that include integrating some government and rebel forces, and paves the way for the resolution of other pending issues before a comprehensive peace agreement is reached.

“I am very happy that our leader Garang managed to convince Taha for them to agree on the deal,” Theresa Liok, a mother of two, told AFP in Rumbek, SPLA’s operational base.

“Our children will now go to school without fear that Antonov bombers will kill them any time,” she said.

The mood was one of optimism in a region ravaged by two decades of war and famine.

“I hope that (Sudan’s) President Omar el-Beshir remains faithful to this deal. We shall be very happy,” said Gedion Omar, 24.

“We have lost our loved ones in war and we hope that this agreement will last and bring us a new beginning,” he added.

Said Joseph Garang, 40: “If the talks fail, we are doomed. No other negotiations will deliver anything that will make people happy.”

“The expectations are high, people have suffered long enough, children have been killed in classrooms, homes, churches and everywhere. We pray that when they meet again, everything will be in order,” he added.

Garang is expected to address the rally in Rumbek on Tuesday.

Under a groundbreaking deal in Kenya last year, both Khartoum and the SPLA agreed that southern Sudan will be allowed to vote on independence from Khartoum or unity with it after a transitional six-year-period of autonomy.

Sudan’s north-south civil war dates back to the 19th century and beyond. Its latest phase began when the SPLA took up arms in 1983. Since then, more than 1.5 million people have been killed and four million displaced.

The conflict takes place against a background of domination of the mainly black African, animist or Christian south by the Arab, Islamic north, but has become increasingly driven by a fight for control of natural resources, notably oil.