Sudanese government and rebel negotiators suspend cease-fire talks

NAIROBI, July 28, 2004 (AP) — The Sudanese government and rebel negotiators suspended talks Wednesday on a permanent cease-fire agreement aimed at ending a 21-year war in southern Sudan , mediators said.

Government and rebel negotiators made “substantial progress” toward brokering a cease-fire before breaking off the talks for “consultations,” said the Intergovermental Authority on Development, which is mediating the talks. The regional organization didn’t elaborate.

The Intergovermental Authority on Development didn’t say when talks would resume, and neither government nor rebel officials were immediately available for comment.

Representatives of the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army began talks on a permanent cease-fire agreement June 27 in Naivasha, 100 kilometers west of the capital Nairobi.

The negotiations in Kenya are separate from those to end a 17-month insurgency by other rebels in Sudan ‘s western Darfur region, where tens of thousands have been killed and more than a million forced from their homes.

Since the talks began in Kenya in June 2002, negotiators have agreed on how to share power and wealth in Africa’s largest country and what to do with their armed forces during a six-year transition period. They also agreed on how to govern three conflict areas in central Sudan during the transition period.

During the latest round of talks, government and rebel negotiators reached “important understandings” on a cease-fire date, the monitoring and verification of a cease-fire and the composition of a joint defense board, among other issues, said the Intergovermental Authority on Development.