Kenya sees Sudan wealth-sharing deal Sunday
NAIROBI, Dec 20 (Reuters) – Kenya said on Saturday that the Sudan government and the main rebel group were likely to sign a wealth sharing agreement on Sunday, clearing one of the key hurdles in ending a 20-year conflict.
“They are close to signing an agreement on wealth sharing, hopefully I will be there to witness the signing tomorrow afternoon,” Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Minister Kalonzo Musyoka told Reuters.
A rebel official said on Friday that the negotiations had been stuck on the key issue of sharing oil revenues with the government willing to give only 17 percent to the Sudan People’s Liberation Army and the SPLA insisting on 60 percent.
Nearly two years of talks between the northern government and southern SPLA rebels have produced deals on some issues, but sharing wealth is one of three outstanding topics.
“We are very close to agreeing on percentages but I cannot talk about the details now,” said rebel spokesman Samson Kwaje, adding that he expected a wealth-sharing deal to be signed on Sunday.
However, no government official could be reached for comment.
The Sudanese war has killed an estimated two million people and uprooted four million since it began in 1983.
Peace talks between the government and SPLA began in early 2002. They have already agreed on splitting state and religion, forming a postwar army and letting the south hold a referendum on independence after an interim period.
The main outstanding issues are sharing wealth, dividing power, and the status of three contested areas.
Mediators, especially the United States, have been putting pressure on both sides to get a final deal covering all issues by the end of the year, even if it is only a framework accord.
Despite the hopeful signs for the country from talks with the SPLA, Sudanese newspapers reported on Thursday that officials in the western Darfur region imposed a curfew after separate peace talks between the Khartoum-based government and one of two rebel groups in that region collapsed.
Talks with the Sudan Liberation Army, which signed a truce in September, failed this week with both sides blaming each other. A second group in Darfur, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), has not signed a truce or begun talks with Khartoum.