US says ‘foolhardy’ to expect Sudan peace deal soon

WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday that it would be “foolhardy” to expect negotiators to strike a quick peace deal to end the 20-year civil war in southern Sudan but that Washington still held out some hope.

The State Department offered the pessimistic assessment one day before President George W. Bush must report to Congress on whether the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) are making progress in talks to end a conflict that has killed some 2 million people.

Under the Sudan Peace Act, if Bush finds the government is not negotiating in good faith he could punish it by moving to block oil revenues and loans through international financial institutions, seeking a U.N. arms embargo and downgrading diplomatic ties.

In October, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the end of the conflict, which broadly pits the Islamist government in Khartoum against the mainly animist or Christian south, was “in sight” but the parties failed to reach an agreement by year-end as he had hoped.

The State Department said the peace talks were snagged over issues including whether Islamic sharia law should be imposed in the capital, the governorships of the southern Blue Nile and the Nuba Mountains regions and powersharing.

“The government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and Army have not reached an agreement in Naivasha and that is disappointing,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters. “The parties do continue to negotiate.”

“We understand the parties are actively engaging with a mediation team — the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development — to try to resolve these issues,” he added. “We hope that this will produce results imminently.”

Asked if the United States had any reason to expect a quick agreement, he replied: “I think it would be foolhardy to expect (it) but we certainly hope they would.”

“We think the issues are defined, the issues are clear, the involvement of the mediator is such that they could reach agreement and we would hope that they would take the opportunity to do so,” he added.