Salva Kiir says US trip not linked to Sudan peace crisis

November 4, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese First Vice President and President of southern Sudan government, Salva Kiir, said Sunday he would travel to the United States but denied the trip was because of an ongoing crisis sparked by his ministers quitting the central government in Khartoum.

“This trip was planned a long time ago,” said Kiir, who is due to fly to Washington on Wednesday at the invitation of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

However Kiir said that the crisis triggered by his ministers’ September 11 walkout would be on the agenda.

The ministers quit in protest at slow progress in implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended Africa’s longest-running civil war.

Complaints centre on the finalising of a north-south border, the withdrawal of troops from each side’s area of control, and the fate of the disputed oil-rich region of Abyei.

Southern officials on Friday voiced optimism that a deal would be reached by the end of the year, but that the Abyei issue was still unresolved.

Nevertheless, Kiir said he hoped a final accord including Abyei would be reached once he returned from the United States and President Omar al-Beshir from a trip to Burundi and South Africa.

“I hope that we will be able to announce a final agreement when we return from our travels,” said Kiir.

Rice expressed deep concern last month about the Khartoum government’s failure to implement the hard-won deal and announced Washington was seeking an extra 70 million dollars for the south.

The 2005 peace deal provided for a six-year transition period in which the south would enjoy regional autonomy and participate in a national unity government in Khartoum.

Kiir’s talks in Washington will also cover the war in the western region of Darfur, where peace appears increasingly elusive after negotiations in Libya kicked off last month but were boycotted by the main rebel groups.

US President George W. Bush has charged that genocide is taking place in Darfur, perpetrated by Khartoum’s forces and their proxy Janjaweed militia.

Washington, which has imposed sanctions against Beshir’s Islamist regime for its alleged support of terrorism, has much warmer relations with the southern administration.

(AFP)