Talks to end 21-year rebellion in southern Sudan stalled over Islamic law
By CHRIS TOMLINSON, Associated Press Writer
NAIROBI, Kenya, April 10, 2004 (AP) — Talks to end the 21-year civil war in southern Sudan stalled Saturday over the application of Islamic law in the nation’s capital, a spokesman for the rebels said.
Both the government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army have been under growing pressure to resolve the last remaining issues that divide them.
Charles Snyder, the acting U.S. Assistant Secretary for African Affairs said Wednesday that he thought an agreement may be reached Saturday or Sunday. He said he was considering withdrawing U.S. mediators until he was convinced an agreement could be reached within days.
But on Saturday, rebel spokesman Yasir Arman said the last major sticking point was the application of Islamic law, known as Sharia, on the citizens of the national capital, Khartoum. Earlier negotiations led to an agreement that all other provinces in Sudan would be allowed to decide what legal system to use.
Arman said the rebels had agreed to allow Muslims to be subject to Sharia, but insisted that it not be applied to non-Muslims. Arman said the government has insisted that Sharia apply to all people living in Khartoum.
“We think this is a very strange position and violates human rights and religious freedoms,” Arman said. “The SPLA made a big concession on the state of the whole capital, which is a federal capital … We only limited ourselves that Islamic Sharia should not be applied to Christian and non-Muslims.”
Government negotiators were not immediately available for comment.
Mediators said that Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha and rebel leader John Garang were continuing face-to-face talks Saturday.
Finalizing a peace deal for the southern rebellion is important to ending a humanitarian crisis created by a separate rebellion in the western Darfur region of Sudan, where more than 860,000 people have been driven from their homes and thousands killed.
While the fighting is unrelated, a peace agreement with southern rebels would free up diplomatic resources for peace talks to begin in Chad in two weeks to end the fighting in Darfur.