Sudanese VP arrives in Ethiopia for official visit

ADDIS ABABA, Oct 13 (AFP) – Sudan’s First Vice President Osman Ali Taha on Monday arrived in Addis Ababa to brief Ethiopian officials on progress made in peace talks in Kenya aimed at ending 20 years of conflict with southern rebels, diplomats said.

“Taha is expected to brief Ethiopian officials on the developments of the peace process,” diplomatic sources said.

Khartoum and Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) last month clinched a landmark agreement on security arrangements during the six years of transitional self-rule for the south.

Taha and SPLA leader John Garang are this week expected to join the talks, currently going on at the Kenyan Rift Valley town of Naivasha on wealth- and power-sharing, as well the status of three disputed regions — southern Blue Nile, the Nuba mountains and Abyei — before a final peace deal is concluded and signed.

The mainly Christian and animist south has been fighting since 1983 to end domination by the Arabised, Muslim north, in a war that has claimed more than 1.5 million lives and displaced four million others.