Sudanese peace talks in Kenya to “be signed within days”

NAIROBI, Dec 22, 2004 (IRIN) — A comprehensive peace agreement between the
Sudanese government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army
(SPLM/A) to end two decades of conflict in the south could be signed
within days, officials involved in peace talks in Kenya said on Tuesday.

“The talks are going very well and the SPLM/A is optimistic that an
agreement will be reached on the outstanding provisions within the coming
three days,” SPLM/A spokesman Yasser Arman told IRIN from Naivasha, Kenya,
where the negotiations are being held.

Muhammad Ahmad Dirdeiry, the Sudanese Deputy Ambassador in Nairobi, told
IRIN: “The parties have finalised the implementation modalities of the
wealth-sharing provision and reached agreement on two of the three
[disputed] regions [of Nuba Mountains, Abyei and Southern Blue Nile].”

“The Sudanese government is committed to resolve the last outstanding
issues,” he added. “We hope to reach an agreement in a few days.”

Sudanese Vice President Ali Uthman Taha and SPLM/A leader John Garang
resumed high-level talks on 6 December, raising hopes that a peace accord
could be signed by the end of the year, as agreed in a memorandum of
understanding they signed in November.

In the memorandum, initialled at an extraordinary session of the UN
Security Council held on 18-19 November in Nairobi, Kenya, the two sides
pledged to reach a comprehensive peace agreement by 31 December.

Sources in Naivasha told IRIN on Tuesday it had been agreed that the
existing borders around the oil-rich Abyei region would remain until a
joint review committee would agree on a final demarcation, taking into
account the settlements of ethnic groups in the area.

On the Nuba Mountains, it had been agreed that this region would remain
part of South Kordofan State, whose administrative capital would be
Kadugli. The SPLA/M had wanted Nuba Mountains, which are geographically
part of northern Sudan, to be included in the south.

Sources said the main outstanding issues left included the details of a
permanent ceasefire and power-sharing modalities during the interim
period – in particular between the two vice-presidents that are
envisioned.

The government of Sudan and the rebel SPLM/A had in May signed six key
protocols covering power-sharing arrangements and the administration of
the three contested areas during a six-year interim period that would
precede a referendum to determine whether the south would remain part of
Sudan.

The war in the south erupted in 1983 when the rebels took up arms against
the government based in the north to demand greater autonomy. Talks
between the parties have been going on in Naivasha since mid-2003.

On 14 December, the UN envoy to Sudan, Jan Pronk, urged the parties to
expedite the talks, saying the settlement of the southern conflict was key
to solving the humanitarian crisis in the western Sudanese region of
Darfur.

He said a peace accord in the south would lead to a new constitution and a
new government which would be sympathetic to the situation in Darfur and
more open to negotiation.

The conflict in Darfur is between the Sudanese government and militias
allegedly allied to it, on the one hand, and, on the other, rebels
fighting to end what they call the marginalisation of and discrimination
against the region’s inhabitants by the state.

According to the UN, the Darfur conflict has displaced at least 1.65
million people and is one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.