Sudanese vice president, rebel leader resume talks in bid to end Sudan’s 20-year war
NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 06, 2003 (AP) — Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha and John Garang, the leader of rebels fighting a 20-year civil war, resumed talks Saturday in a bid to thrash out an agreement on a comprehensive peace deal.
The negotiations began a day after a delegation from Garang’s Sudan People’s Liberation Army visited Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, for the first time since Africa’s longest-running conflict erupted in 1983 — a sign of the progress that has been made at peace talks in recent months.
Taha and Garang have been leading the negotiations since September and achieved a major breakthrough that month by agreeing that the SPLA should retain its forces in the south during a six-year transition period.
But the parties still have to agree on the rebels’ representation in a transitional government, the National Assembly and civil service; whether Khartoum should be governed under Islamic or secular law; the sharing of the nation’s wealth, particularly oil revenue; and the administration of three disputed areas in central Sudan.
The talks — hailed as the best chance to end a war in which 2 million people have perished, mainly through war-induced famine — resumed last week with committees from both sides meeting in the Kenyan town of Naivasha, 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of Nairobi.
Both mediators and delegates said there had been progress, but most agree that it is unlikely the parties will reach a comprehensive deal by the end of the year — a deadline called for by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell when he met Garang and Taha in October.
Lazaro Sumbeiywo, the talks’ chief mediator, said he hoped the parties could reach a partial agreement by the time the talks adjourn Dec. 20, and a comprehensive accord early next year.
Sayed el-Khatib, spokesman for the government delegation, said “there’s a fair amount of agreement,” including that the rebels should be represented in four key ministries; foreign affairs, defense, internal security and the interior ministry. But the details have yet to be worked out.
“I would say we will have had a very successful meeting if we end with a framework agreement on power sharing, wealth sharing and the three areas of conflict, not necessarily deciding on every detail,” el-Khatib said.
Deng Alor, a rebel delegate, said the talks were going “okay,” adding, “everybody seems to be waiting for the two leaders to make the decisions.”
Alor said the government wanted the SPLA to have 25 percent of the positions in the transitional administration while the rebels wanted 40 percent. Mediators are pushing for a compromise of 33.3 percent, he said.
The negotiators also have to agree on the representation of southern groups not allied to the SPLA and northern opposition groups.
A source close to the talks said rebel demands that the country, Africa’s largest, have two currencies and banking systems are hampering progress on the wealth sharing negotiations, while disagreement over the administration of the oil-rich Abyei area of West Kordofan is the main concern with the three disputed areas.
The war broke out when rebels from the mainly Christian and animist south took up arms against the predominantly Arab and Muslim north seeking greater equality for the south.
The peace process began in July 2002, and that month the two sides agreed to a six-year transition after which southerners will vote in a referendum to decide whether to secede.