Sudan expects peace deal in weeks but wants it signed in Africa

CAIRO, Jan 13 (AFP) — Sudan expects a deal ending its 20-year civil war in a few weeks but wants it signed in an African country rather than in Washington, Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said.

“We prefer that the peace agreement be signed in Africa” with the southern rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), Ismail said in an interview with the Egyptian government newspaper Al Ahram.

“We want to send a message saying the children of Africa are capable of solving their own problems,” Ismail was quoted as saying.

“This would also be better for the United States,” because it would allow “the international community to admit that the United States helped and supported Africa to resolve its problems,” he said.

US President George W. Bush has invited his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Beshir to sign the expected peace accord with the SPLA in Washington, official Sudanese sources said last month.

Ismail said Khartoum and the SPLA might conclude a peace settlement in several weeks, following the signing last week of an agreement on sharing the oil-rich country’s wealth.

“I am optimistic that in a short while we will manage to sign the peace accord,” he said, adding the timeframe proposed up until now was the end of January.

“We are continuing to hope (to be able to respect the deadline), but in my opinion, even if we exceed this date, it will not take much time” to conclude a settlement, the minister said. “I’m not speak of months, but perhaps weeks.”

Washington had urged Khartoum and the SPLA, which have dramatic progress toward ending the war during negotiations in Kenya, to clinch a final agreement by the end of 2003 and now hopes it can be signed early this year.