Khartoum, southern Sudanese rebels agree to continue peace talks

NAIROBI, March 31 (AFP) — Khartoum and Sudan’s main southern rebel group agreed Wednesday, when they were expected to adjourn, to push on with their talks for about a week to thrash out issues standing in the way of a final peace agreement, mediators said.

“The talks are still going on and the two sides have indicated their willingness to continue with the negotiations,” chief mediator Lazaro Sumbeiywo told AFP by telephone from the talks’ venue in Naivasha, northwest of Nairobi.

Sudan’s Vice President Ali Osman Taha and Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) leader John Garang, who resumed their fourth round of face-to-face talks on February 17, were expected to finish this round on March 31, but decided to continue until they resolved the remaining issues.

The issues currently on the table are the administration of the status of three disputed regions — Abyei, Nuba Mountains and Southern Blue Nile — as well as the sharing of political and administrative posts.

While the disputed areas are not strictly part of southern Sudan, the SPLA claims to represent the people of the three regions.

The conflict in Sudan erupted in 1983 when the south, where most people confess to Christianity and numerous traditional religions, took up arms to end the domination of the wealthier, Arabised and Muslim north.

Alongside famine and diseases, the civil war, now Africa’s longest, has claimed at least 1.5 million people and sent more than four million others fleeing their homes.

Since July 2002, when they struck an accord granting the south the right to a referendum after a six-year transition period, other deals have been reached on a 50-50 split of the country’s wealth — particularly revenues from oil, which is concentrated in the south — and how to manage Khartoum and SPLA armies during the interim period.

In a separate conflict in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, more than 10,000 people are thought to have died in a year of vicious skirmishes between rebels and government-backed militia groups.