Sudanese leaders to start peace meetings December 5: official

KHARTOUM, Nov 14 (AFP) — Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha and southern rebel leader John Garang will begin meeting in Kenya on December 5 in the latest stage of the ongoing peace process, SUNA news agency reported Friday.

SUNA quoted Khartoum’s presidential peace adviser Ghazi Salah Eddin Atabani as saying the talks would be held five days after preparatory meetings of the two sides’ delegations to the next round of peace negotiations.

The new round, beginning after the Eid al-Fitr holiday which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan at the end of November, would last until the Christmas holidays in late December.

Atabani said his government approved suggestions by Kenyan chief mediator Lazaru Sumbeiywo on how to administer the forthcoming round of negotiations, but he declined to elaborate on those suggestions before they are approved by the SPLA.

“The manner in which the negotiations are administered is very important for the success of those talks,” said Atabani, adding that it would help in organising the presentation of controversial issues.

Sumbeiywo made his proposals in meetings here with Taha and Atabani on Wednesday and Thursday. He was quoted by SUNA as hoping that the two sides “will reach a peace agreement by the end of the year.”

SUNA also quoted Taha as reiterating his government’s intention of reaching “a comprehensive and just peace agreement” with the SPLA.

The state-run news agency reported that Sumbeiywo would travel to Rumbeik in the south for similar talks with John Garang and other SPLA officials.

Sudan’s war erupted in 1983 when Garang’s SPLA took up arms against Khartoum to end domination of the mainly Christian and animist south by the Arabised, Muslim north.

More than 1.5 million people have been killed and more than four million people displaced in the conflict.

The government and SPLA have made dramatic progress toward ending the war during the last 15 months of negotiations in Kenya, with the US government expecting a final settlement to be signed by the end of the year.