Sudanese government expects final peace deal with rebels this month.
CAIRO, Dec 6 (AFP) — Sudan’s vice president and the leader of the country’s southern rebel movement arrived in Kenya on Saturday for talks on a deal to end their two-decade civil war, which the government said would be signed this month.
A peace agreement between the Islamic government in Khartoum and rebels from the Christian and animist south would be “signed at the end of the current year”, Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail told reporters in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
He said the talks between Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha and John Garang from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) in the Kenyan town of Naivasha would solve the three outstanding questions – power-sharing, the distribution of oil wealth and status of three disputed regions.
The multi-faceted conflict, which has claimed more than 1.5 million lives since it began in 1983, has increasingly been fuelled by the country’s oil reserves.
Expectations had been rising that a final peace agreement can be reached before the end of December amid growing pressure from Washington for both camps to put their differences aside.
But Ismail’s remarks were the strongest indication yet from the government that an end to the conflict is in sight.
An official from the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the regional body that is mediating in the talks, told AFP earlier on Saturday that a final accord could be reached before December 19, when the current round of talks are due to end.
Earlier rounds of negotiations – in July 2002 and September 2003 – produced significant progress towards ending the war, notably on transitional security arrangements and the right for the Christian and animist south to hold a referendum after six years of self-rule.
“What we have done in the previous rounds has been the way to the final settlement,” Taha said when he arrived at Nairobi airport on Saturday.
“I hope that we will have the will and determination to finally settle this issue,” the vice president told reporters.
SPLA delegates in Naivasha also expressed optimism, with one saying: “We hope to agree in this session.”
Delegates from both sides have been meeting for the past week in Naivasha, 80 kilometres (50 miles) northwest of Nairobi, to prepare the ground for agreement on the remaining sticking points.
When Taha and rebel leader John Garang arrived, delegates from both sides came out to greet them, mingling with one another for the first time. Shortly afterwards, the media was asked to leave the hotel where the talks were being held.
In a further indication of the high hopes for peace, leaders of the SPLA and the rebels’ political wing, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, made a historic visit to Khartoum on Friday that prompted a triumphant welcome from thousands of supporters.
The head of the delegation, Bagan Amum, described the trip as a “goodwill visit” to show the people of Sudan “it was time to end a chapter of fighting and open a new chapter of peace”.
Beshir told national television: “All indications are that the war in southern Sudan… is reaching its end and only the finishing touches need to be put on a final peace agreement.”
On Thursday, Taha signed a deal with Mohammed Osman Mirghani, the leader of the National Democratic Alliance, a coalition of opposition forces, including the SPLA.
The pact signalled support for the peace talks and advocated a new democratic Sudan benefitting all political parties.
On Saturday, neighbouring Ethiopia and Egypt hailed the progress towards peace in Sudan.
“Egypt and Ethiopia are satisfied with the progress made in the negotiations on Sudan,” Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin told a joint news conference with his Egyptian counterpart, Ahmed Maher.