Anxiety heightens as US deadline for Sudanese peace closes in

KHARTOUM, Sudan, April 20, 2004 (PANA) — Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha,
who heads the Khartoum delegation to talks with the separatist
Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) is due Tuesday in
Naivasha, Kenya (venue of the talks) for what observers reckon
would be one final push to seal a deal.

Last week, the US warned both parties at the protracted talks
that they could face sanctions if they failed to conclude a
comprehensive peace deal by 21 April.

Commenting on the stakes, Information minister and government
spokesman Alzahawi Ibrahim said in a press statement that prior
to leaving for Naivasha, Taha had intensive consultations with
other senior Sudanese officials concerning issues holding back
progress at the negotiations.

The talks hit impasse last week when the government and the
SPLM/A differed sharply on whether non-Muslims living in the
federal capital should be exempted from the Islamic Sharia law.

Observers further noted that as many as 16 points still needed to
be thrashed out.

Last Saturday, Taha and SPLM/A leader John Garang called on
mediators to help break the impasse.

The belligerents have been negotiating in Naivasha, some 90 km
northwest of Nairobi since February.

The government insists that Islamic law apply to all residents in
Khartoum during a six-year transition period leading to a
referendum on the question of secession for southern Sudan.

The separatists, who initially ruled out the Sharia in Khartoum,
have since softened their stance, proposing that the law apply
only to Muslims in the capital.

SPLM/A spokesman Yasir Arman said government negotiators were
also rigid on power sharing in three disputed areas in central
Sudan, which are populated by southern tribes. These include
Abyei, Nouba Mountains and the Blue Nile.

Still, analysts insist the most complicated issue remains the
legal system to be enforced in Khartoum, with the separatists
demanding two systems to accommodate the rights of non-Muslim
residents.

In progress made so far at the talks, the Khartoum government and
the SPLM/A agreed last September on the configuration of the
military during six-year transition period.

Last January, they also signed an agreement on how to share the
country’s wealth.

The protracted talks began way back March 1994 in Kenya under the
auspices of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development
(IGAD), a seven-member East African group comprising Kenya,
Ethiopia, Djibouti, Uganda, Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia.