Sudanese peace talks extended after parties fail to reach agreements

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 16, 2004 (AP) — The Sudanese government and rebels fighting a 21-year civil war failed to reach agreements on key issues during the latest session of peace talks, prompting negotiators to extend the meetings beyond the Tuesday deadline, the chief mediator said.

“They have looked at everything, they have made quite a lot of progress, but they have not made any decisions,” Lazaro Sumbeiywo told The Associated Press.

The remaining obstacles to a peace deal – all potential deal-breakers – are the composition of a transitional administration, the fate of three disputed areas in central Sudan, and whether the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, should be governed under Islamic law.

The latest session of talks resumed Feb. 17 in the Kenyan town of Naivasha after a three-week break to allow some government negotiators to go on the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The talks were scheduled to end Tuesday.

In January, the government and rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army achieved a significant breakthrough by agreeing on how to divide the wealth of Africa’s largest country – including oil revenue – during a six-year transition period.

And in September, the parties agreed on what is called security arrangements – what to do with their armed forces during the interim period.

The war erupted in 1983 when southern rebels took up arms against the predominantly Arab and Muslim north. The rebels say they are fighting for greater equality for the south and for southerners to have the right to choose whether to remain part of Sudan.

More than 2 million people have perished, mainly through war-induced famine, in the conflict.

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. After that period, southerners will vote in a referendum on whether to secede.

Progress at the talks in Naivasha, 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of Nairobi, has been marred by a yearlong insurgency in western Sudan which has forced more than 600,000 people to flee their homes.

That rebellion has intensified in recent months, and analysts have warned that it has acted as a distraction to the talks between the government and southern rebels.