Sudanese president says main hurdles to peace overcome
KHARTOUM, Oct 6 (AFP) — Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir on Monday praised the southern rebel leadership for dramatic progress in negotiations in Kenya and said only a short stretch remained for ending 20 years of civil war.
“The security arrangements agreement is the main key to peace and to unity as well,” Beshir said at the opening of a new session of the Sudanese National Assembly, or parliament.
The security deal clinched late last month in Naivasha, Kenya, has broken a stalemate that followed the landmark protocol the two sides signed in July last year in the Kenyan town of Machakos, Beshir said.
“Let me salute the popular movement (SPLM/A) and its leader Colonel John Garang for their response and for making the negotiations a success,” Beshir said, while praising Kenya for facilitating the negotiations.
He said the search for peace with the southern rebels would not distract the government from national reconciliation with northern opposition parties which have complained of being excluded from the talks in Kenya.
Beshir added he would propose a national action programme for “unification of the nation.”
He said after peace is achieved, his country would be faced with the challenge of “equal and sustainable development all over the country.”
The official Al-Anbaa daily earlier quoted Beshir as saying negotiations resuming in Kenya on Monday with the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement/Army would “put the final touches of peace after which the Sudan will eliminate its political, economic and social problems.”
Beshir, speaking at a meeting of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) late Sunday, urged negotiators on both sides in Naivasha to work seriously for “a final, comprehensive and just peace.”
“All the Sudanese people are behind you and the entire world is waiting for a peace agreement and so are the peace-loving peoples,” said Beshir, adding that peace in Sudan would contribute to peace and stability in the region.
Beshir has called for forgetting “the wounds, bitterness and grievances caused by the war.”
He added that he is looking forward to meeting with the SPLM/A in the NCP premises here after unity has been approved in a referendum that would be conducted after the six-year interim period outlined in the Machakos protocol.
He invited the rebel movement “to merge with the National Congress or have a new party to operate in the political arena.”
The peace talks resuming in Kenya will seek to thrash out the sticking points of power-sharing and oil resources, as well as disputed regions.
The Naivasha deal established security arrangements that include integrating some of their forces during the six-year transitional period, at the end of which the southern Sudanese would vote for unity or secession.
Sudan’s civil war started when the SPLA took up arms in 1983.
Since then, more than 1.5 million people have been killed in war and war-related famine.