Sudanese VP foresees final peace deal with southern rebels by August

CAIRO, June 14 (AFP) — The Sudanese government expects to sign a definitive peace deal with southern rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) by August, Vice President Ali Osman Taha said in comments published on Monday.

“The agreement will be signed at a major ceremony in Narobi attended by Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Beshir and Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki as well as a large number of officials from neighbouring countries and other concerned states,” Taha told the Egyptian government-owned daily Al-Ahram.

Taha, who is also the government’s chief negotiator in the talks, signed a framework deal with SPLA leader John Garang in Nairobi on June 5.

Talks on the final outstanding issue – a permanent ceasefire – are due to start on June 22.

Taha said they would also address the “number and deployment of military units”, with 12,000 SPLA fighters expected to be stationed in the north and an equal number of government troops in the south.

The two sides would also agree on the “share-out of posts in the transitional government and parliament”, which are to run the country for six years up to a promised referendum on secession for the mainly Christian or animist south.

For six months between the signing of the definitive peace agreement and the establishment of the transitional government next February, the SPLA leader would become first vice president with Taha himself as the number two.

During that period, Garang would also form the new autonomous administration for the south which he himself would preside during the six-year transition.

The civil war in southern Sudan is Africa’s longest-running conflict.

Some 1.5 million people are estimated to have died in the fighting or from associated famines and epidemics since the SPLA launched its rebellion against the Muslim-dominated government in Khartoum in 1983.