Sudanese rebels sees chance of peace by year-end

WASHINGTON, Nov 21 (Reuters) – Sudanese rebel leader John Garang said on Friday he saw a good chance of reaching a peace agreement with the government by the end of the year but did not see the target favored by the United States as a deadline.

“There are good chances we can do that,” he told reporters after talks in Washington with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who pressed the two sides in October to complete a deal by the end of December.

But he added: “There is really not a deadline as such. There is an expression of hope.”

Both sides — the government and Garang’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement — have played down the importance of meeting the target in peace talks which resume in Kenya on Nov. 30 after a break for the fasting month of Ramadan.

Garang said that he and Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha would join the talks on or around Dec. 5.

The negotiators, seeking to end a civil year which resumed in 1983, now have three main points to settle — the status of three disputed areas and how to share power and wealth.

More than 2 million people have died as a direct or indirect result of the war, launched by Garang’s movement to claim greater autonomy for the non-Arab southerners.

Garang said Powell had offered U.S. assistance with the negotiations. “I did tell him that we are hopeful that we will reach a political settlement,” he added.

Earlier this month, the deputy leader of the rebel movement told Reuters in Cairo that the peace talks were very unlikely to reach agreement by the end of the year.

“We start on November 30 and one month cannot really resolve these issues, but if you push it down to early next year it could be possible to January or the end of February,” said Salva Kiir Mayardit.