Sudan lifts emergency in east after peace deal

Oct 20, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan has lifted a longstanding state of emergency in two eastern states following the signing of a peace deal with ethnic minority rebels, state radio reported Friday.

President Omar al-Beshir issued the decree ending the emergency Kassala and Red Sea states in accordance with the agreement signed with the rebel Eastern Front in the Eritrean capital Asmara last Saturday, the radio said.

The deal with the Eastern Front, an alliance of Beja and Rashidiya Arab rebels that still controls two strips of Sudanese territory on the Eritrean border, ended 12 years of low-level insurgency in the region.

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.

(AFP)