Sudan peace talks to begin Tuesday on ceasefire implementation
NAIROBI, June 20, 2004 (Xinhua) — A crucial round of peace talks between the Sudanese government and southern rebels is due to open in Kenya on Tuesday with a three-day workshop to discuss steps needed to implement a comprehensive ceasefire, a Sudanese official said here Sunday.
A Counselor at the Sudan’s embassy in Nairobi, Neimat Bilal told Xinhua that the negotiations to be attended by military experts from both parties will focus on power-sharing arrangements, setting up a joint military, observation of the ceasefire and the number and location of its deployment.
“A team of government delegation comprising military experts arrived in Nairobi today (Sunday) for a three-day workshop on ceasefire implementation and thereafter will join the rest of the delegates at Naivasha,” Bilal said by telephone.
She noted that experts from Britain, the United States and the Joint Military Commission in Nuba Mountains would give lectures in the workshop on cease-fire and procedures and arrangements.
The Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) have signed accords paving the way for an end to 21 years of civil war in southern Sudan.
Under terms of the deal signed in May in the Kenyan town of Naivasha, the government and the SPLM/A will share power for a six- year transition period at both the national and regional level.
After that, the south can hold a referendum on whether to remain part of the country.
During the interim period, SPLM/A leader John Garang will serve as President of the southern region, and first Vice-President in the national government.
However, the deal does not address a separate civil war in the Sudan’s western Darfur region, where 16 months of fighting have displaced more than one million people.
The war in the Sudan erupted in 1983 when the mostly Christian and animist south took up arms to end domination and marginalization by the wealthier, mainly Muslim north.
Together with recurrent famine and disease, the war has killed at least 1.5 million people and displaced four million others.