U.S. envoy meets Sudanese government and rebel officials to push for a final peace deal
By ANDREW ENGLAND Associated Press Writer
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 14, 2004 (AP) — The U.S. envoy to Sudan held talks with Sudanese government officials and southern rebels on Wednesday in a bid to push the parties toward a final peace deal to end their 20-year civil war.
Former Sen. John Danforth met with Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha and John Garang, leader of the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army, in the town of Naivasha where the two sides are locked in talks to resolve two outstanding issues, delegates said.
“He told us the United States administration would remain engaged in the peace process in Sudan … and that the (US) president (George W. Bush) is looking for an agreement as soon as possible,” said Yasir Arman, a rebel spokesman.
Analysts say the U.S. government has been pushing the parties to reach an agreement before Bush’s State of Union address next Tuesday.
The U.S. Embassy in Nairobi said Danforth was in Kenya to meet with the negotiating parties at the “direction of the President,” but gave no further details.
Bush named Danforth as his special envoy in September 2001 as part of U.S. efforts to end the conflict in which more than 2 million people have perished, mainly because of disease and war-induced famine.
The United States, as well as Britain and Norway, has observer status at the talks in Naivasha, 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of Nairobi, under the mediation of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a regional body.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell met the parties in October and said the leaders would be invited to Washington once they signed a comprehensive agreement. He urged them to reach a final deal by the end of last year.
But despite an agreement this month on wealth-sharing – including the splitting of the country’s oil revenue – the parties have yet to reach agreements on the administration of three disputed areas in central Sudan and power-sharing, which would define the rebels’ representation in a transitional administration and whether Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, would be governed under Islamic law.
The talks are now centered the three disputed areas – the Nuba Mountains, southern Blue Nile and oil-rich Abyei.
Delegates say there has been progress, but it is unclear when an agreement will be reached.
The war erupted in 1983 when southern rebels from the mainly animist and Christian south took up arms against the predominantly Arab and Muslim north.
The rebels say they are fighting for greater equality and for southerners to have the right to choose whether to remain part of Sudan.
In July 2002, shortly after the peace process began, the parties agreed to a six-year transition period during which the south will have a regional administration. Southerners will vote in a referendum after the transition to decide whether the south should secede.