Khartoum ratifies Eastern Sudan Peace Deal
Oct 18, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan on Wednesday ratified a peace deal signed with eastern rebels last week, adding that a state of emergency in the east would be lifted in two days, an official source said.
The accord was ratified during an extradordinary cabinet meeting headed by President Omar al-Beshir who declared that “the state of emergency will be lifted (in eastern Sudan) in two days by decree,” cabinet spokesman Omar Mohammed Saleh said.
On October 14 the Sudanese government and rebels from the Eastern Front signed a peace accord that was negotiated with Eritrean help and is aimed at ending a 12-year armed conflict.
During the cabinet meeting, Beshir recommended that all the accord’s protocols “be applied with absolute transparency and according to the agreed timetable,” Saleh said.
He added that Eritrea’s role in hosting the peace negotiations would help establish good relations between Asmara and Khartoum.
The Sudanese government had frequently accused its eastern neighbour of supporting the rebels in a bid to destabilise the country.
According to power-sharing provisions in the peace deal, a presidential assistant will be nominated from among the leaders of the Eastern Front. A minister of state and eight members of parliament will also be chosen from among the rebel group.
On resource-sharing, the Sudanese government will allocate 100 million dollars to development of the eastern region in 2007, followed by 125 million dollars a year between 2008 and 2011 — a total of 600 million dollars over five years.
Under security arrangements agreed in the peace deal, all Eastern Front prisoners will be released after the ceasefire and its fighters will be integrated into the Sudanese army.
The Eastern Front was created last year by the region’s largest ethnic group, the Beja, and the Rashidiya Arabs. The grouping has similar aims to its better-known counterparts in Darfur — greater autonomy and control of resources.
Its members have waged a low-level insurgency, and Sudan says the push to defuse the eastern crisis forms part of efforts to pacify the whole country by building on peace pacts reached with other rebel groups.
(AFP)