Powell will attend Sudan peace talks in Kenya amid hopes for a deal
By Matthew Lee
BANGKOK, Oct 19 (AFP) — US Secretary of State Colin Powell will travel to Kenya this week to participate in peace talks between Sudan and southern rebels who appear to be nearing a deal to end the country’s 20-year civil war, State Department officials said Sunday.
The officials, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said that Powell had decided to make the trip after lengthy consideration and that a formal announcement would be made later Sunday or Monday.
Powell is to arrive in Kenya on Tuesday from Thailand, where he is currently accompanying US President George W. Bush on a state visit, and travel to the site of the talks near the town of Naivasha northwest of Nairobi to attend the talks on Wednesday, the officials said.
Opening the latest round of talks on Friday, Kenyan Foreign Minister Kalonzo Musyoka, whose country is host and mediator, said he expected Powell to visit either “to encourage both parties or to witness the signing of the agreement.”
US officials would not say whether they expected a deal to be struck in Powell’s presence but State Department sources said earlier this month that he was unlikely to go unless the two parties were at least on the verge of a deal.
Although some US officials have since downplayed the suggestion that Powell would attend a grand signing ceremony marking the end of the conflict, participants in the peace talks, which Washington has supported, have reported progress.
In Naivasha, a spokesman for the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) rebels, Yassir Arman, confirmed Powell’s visit.
An official of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the regional body mediating in the talks, also said deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs Charles Snyder was expected in Kenya ahead of Powell.
“Snyder is arriving in the country tonight and is expected to come here on Tuesday,” the official, who asked not to be named, told AFP.
On Saturday, southern rebel leader John Garang, who is in Naivasha along with Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha heading their respective delegations, expressed optimism that a permanent settlement could be imminent.
“I’m optimistic. I believe we can sign as soon as possible,” Garang said in comments published in the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat.
Taha was similarly upbeat at the opening of the talks on Friday.
“We are here with full dedication and determination to settle the remaining issues and we hope that in this hall that we signed an agreement on security, we will also sign a comprehensive peace agreement,” he said.
And, asked if a final deal was feasible during the current round, Nick Haysom, an advisor to the lead Kenyan mediator, said: “It is possible.”
At the same time, aides to Garang, leader of the SPLA, and other officials in Naivasha have said the talks are set to last until October 25, three days after Powell departs for an Iraq donors conference in Madrid.
The latest round of talks is aimed at ironing out differences on the three outstanding issues: power- and wealth-sharing and the status of three disputed geographical areas.
War erupted in Sudan in 1983 and has since killed more than 1.5 million people and displaced four million others.
Following the end of Angola’s civil war last year, the Sudan conflict gained the ignominious distinction of being Africa’s longest running war.
The war has pitted rebels from the mainly Christian and animist south against the predominantly Muslim government in Khartoum.
The last round of talks ended in late September, when vice president Taha and Garang signed a deal on security arrangements for a six-year transition period during which the rebel-controlled south will enjoy self-rule.
After the test period of autonomy, an internationally supervised referendum will be held to allow the southern Sudanese to choose whether to remain part of Sudan or become independent.