Resumption of final Sudan peace talks postponed to Sunday: mediator
NAIROBI, June 24 (AFP) — The resumption of a final round of peace talks between the Khartoum government and main southern rebel group, which was due Friday has been postponed for two days, the chief mediator said on Thursday.
“Both parties have requested that the opening of the final round be postponed to Sunday,” Lazaro Sumbeiywo, the retired Kenyan general, told AFP by phone.
Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) are currently meeting in Kenya to discuss the finer details of their nation’s post-war military landscape.
“They said that they want more time for consultations,” Sumbeiywo added.
A final round of negotiations is expected to cover details of a comprehensive ceasefire and how to implement various deals signed since July 2002, before clinching a definitive peace agreement to end to 21 years of devastating civil war.
The war in Sudan, Africa’s largest nation, erupted when southern-based rebels rose up against Khartoum, ostensibly to end Arab and Muslim domination and marginalisation of the black, animist and Christian south.
Together with famine and disease, the conflict has killed at least 1.5 million people and displaced another four million.