Sudan govt, southern rebels to resume peace talks in October

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 20, 2004 (PANA) — The Khartoum government and the southern rebels are to resume peace talks 7 October to wrap up outstanding issues on military and power-sharing issues, mediators said in Nairobi Monday.

The talks, which opened in Naivasha, about 90-km north-west
of Nairobi 21 June, under the auspices of the regional
Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), had
adjourned 28 July.

“The Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M)
and Sudan government will resume talks on 7 October at
a place to be decided soon,” said Lazarus Sumbeiywo,
Kenyan Special Envoy and the talks Chief Mediator.

He said both sides have expressed willingness to resume
the talks: “We are still looking for the venue.”

Following the postponement of the talks in July, mediators
had been meeting with both parties to set the date for the
resumption of negotiations, overshadowed by the outbreak
of fresh fighting in Sudan’s Western region of Darfur.

Peace talks between Darfur rebels and the Khartoum
government were adjourned for four weeks last week in
Abuja, Nigeria.

The peace talks in Kenya stalled due to what sources
blamed on disagreements over the funding of the armies
and positioning of the integrated forces after a final
peace deal and a permanent ceasefire is signed.

Previous agreements on security arrangements in September
2003 broadly outlined how Khartoum would withdraw regular
soldiers from southern Sudan and how troops from both
sides would be integrated into the new national army.

A power-sharing formula on 30-70 percent basis between
the rebels and the government was also agreed, which
would give the SPLA/M leader John Garang the Vice
Presidency.

The 21-year war in southern Sudan, which has killed more
than two million people, is however, unrelated to the
Darfur conflict, which erupted in February last year,
killing tens of thousands and displacing more than one
million.