Next week decisive in peace negotiations with Kenya : FM

KHARTOUM, April 2, 2004 (KUNA) — Next week will be decisive to the current negotiation between Sudanese Vice President Ali Taha and the chief of the people’s movement for the liberation of Sudan John Garang in the Kenyan province of Nivasha, said the Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Mustafa Osman Ismail.

In a statement he made Friday, Ismail said that negotiations between the two delegations, both in the committee and leadership levels, have reignited these talks.

He said that US delegation will arrive in Nivasha in the next couple of days as part of US efforts to push forward the peace process in Sudan.

This Sudanese peace round of talks between Taha and Garang has entered its 45th day and the two sides hope to reach an agreement on the division of authority in the area of Aybi.

Current talks between the Sudanese government and the popular movement under the patronage of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to end the civil war which started in 1983 and claimed the lives of more than two million people.

Negotiations have made great progress and the two sides have signed several agreements on dividing resources, as well as security and military measures to be taken.