Sudan peace could help solve conflict in west – US
WASHINGTON, Jan 9 (Reuters) – A speedy peace deal over southern Sudan could help to resolve the separate conflict between rebel and government forces in the west of the country, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Friday.
Sudan’s government and the southern rebels signed a deal on wealth-sharing this week that is viewed as a key step toward resolving the 20-year conflict pitting the Islamist government against rebels in the mainly animist or Christian south.
Power-sharing and the status of three contested areas remained to be solved in this dispute, in which an estimated 2 million people have died, mostly from hunger and disease.
Even as the government and rebels from the Sudan People’s Liberation Army have moved toward a peace deal over the south, the conflict in the western Darfur region has escalated, with rebels there accusing the government of air raids and of arming Arab militias to attack African tribes in the region.
Some analysts believe a north-south deal could worsen the western conflict by prompting rebels there to step up fighting in the hopes of winning a seat at the negotiating table.
“The truth is what’s in the (north-south) deal easily is transferable onto this western problem in terms of regional authority … share of wealth (that is) proportionate to population,” said the U.S. official who asked not to be named.
“All of these things that are in the deal will help alleviate the western problem if we can get the deal in time to turn it on the west,” he told reporters.
The United States had hoped both sides would resolve the north-south dispute by the end of 2003 and the U.S. official said it is still pressuring them to resolve a deal, saying the western conflict cannot be allowed to fester.
Without U.S. pressure the official suggested that it might take until mid-March to sign a final peace agreement.
He also said he has made the point to the Sudanese government that continued fighting in the west could mar any peace agreement over the south, which U.S. officials have said they would mark with a ceremony at the White House.