Sudan VP, rebel chief battle to clinch final deal before truce deadline

NAIROBI, Dec 20 (AFP) — Sudan’s Vice President Ali Osman Taha and the main rebel chief John Garang are battling to clinch a final peace agreement before a truce deadline expires at the end of the month, officials said on Monday.

“They are working very, very hard to beat the cessation of hostilities (CoH) deadline, due on December 31,” an official in the mediation told AFP from the talks’ venue in the Kenyan northwestern town of Naivasha.

Lazaro Sumbeiywo, a retired Kenyan army general mediating the talks, explained that the truce was renewed on November 30 and is due to expire on December 31.

“They are thoroughly working to beat the truce deadline as well as make good their pledge to the UN Security Council,” Sumbeiywo said.

Last month, Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) pledged in a written promise to the UN Security Council in Nairobi to sign the deal ending 21 years of conflict in southern Sudan by year-end.

Previously, the truce, which was first signed in October 2002, was being extended for three months, unlike this time round, an official said.

More than two years of intense negotiations have already delivered agreements on key issues such as sharing of power and wealth, leaving technical details on the negotiation table, crucial to reaching a final peace deal to halt Africa’s bloodiest conflict.

At least 1.5 million people have been killed and over four million others displaced by the war, which erupted in 1983 when the mainly Christian and animist south took up arms to end domination by the Arabised Muslim north.