Mubarak meets Sudanese vice president in Cairo

CAIRO, Oct 1, 2003 (Xinhua ) — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met Wednesday here with visiting Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha, the official MENA news agency reported.

During the meeting, Taha was expected to brief Mubarak on the latest developments of Sudan’s peace process in light of an agreement reached between the Sudanese government and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) on security and military arrangements, MENA said.

Egypt is part of Taha’s Arab tour, which will also take him to Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The Sudanese government and the SPLA on Thursday signed a deal on security issues and other key points which could lead to a final peace accord.

“Both the Sudan government and the SPLA today signed an agreement on security arrangement on redeployment of forces and a joint command structure,” Kenyan envoy and chief mediator Lazarus Sumbeiywo said in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.

Sumbeiywo told Xinhua after witnessing the formal signing of the agreement that the deal “means a great step forward,” adding the security arrangements were “one of four outstanding major issues.”

This has been a main stumbling block at peace talks that have been taking place in the Kenyan town of Naivasha.

Under the new deal, Sudan will have two armies under separate command and control during a six-year interim period.

The breakthrough followed high-level talks between Taha and SPLA leader John Garang on how each side’s forces will be deployed during a six-year period of self-rule in southern Sudan.

However, the two sides remain far from reaching a comprehensive peace deal, with power sharing, wealth sharing and the status of three contested areas on the north-south border still at issue.

The Sudanese Islamic government forces have been fighting with the SPLA, which has been fighting for greater autonomy for the predominantly Christian and animist south, since 1983.