Deadline looms in talks to end Sudan’s civil war

By Wangui Kanin

NAIROBI, Dec 30 (Reuters) – Sudan’s government and southern rebels were yet to resolve key issues in talks to conclude a peace deal by a Friday deadline to end Africa’s longest-running civil war, negotiators said on Thursday.

A Sudanese man cries as he holds a SPLM flag, Wednesday, May 26, 2004 as he waits for the signing of the last three protocols between the Sudan govt and SPLM in Naivasha, Kenya (AP). .

Sudan First Vice President Ali Osman Taha and John Garang, leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), were meeting in the Kenyan town of Naivasha to finalise a permanent ceasefire.

During an extraordinary meeting of the U.N. Security Council in Nairobi last month, the two men pledged to sign a final pact by Dec. 31, which is also the date the current ceasefire ends.

“The talks are going on OK, but we do not know whether the remaining issues will be resolved in time. So speaking of the 31st or any other date is just guesswork,” a Sudan government negotiator told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

A critical issue — how to fund joint armed forces combining rebels and regular troops — has not even been broached, the negotiator said.

On Wednesday Sudan’s foreign minister said there was confidence and “great hope” the deadline would be met. Rebels also remained optimistic.

“We think it is possible that we will come out with a peace deal by Friday, because we are committed and determined to meet the deadline,” SPLA spokesman Yassir Arman said.

Many dates for a final deal have been missed since the current round started in Kenya.

Talks are mainly focused on power-sharing and how to make the ceasefire stick, participants said.

The issue of whether Islamic sharia law will apply during an interim, post-peace period in Khartoum is still unresolved, observers said.

The imposition of sharia in the mainly animist or Christian south helped trigger the civil war that erupted in 1983.

The discovery of oil in the south has since complicated a war that has driven 4 million from their homes.

The southern conflict is separate from one in Sudan’s western Darfur region.

Observers to the negotiations said that, barring major progress, any agreements announced by Friday’s deadline would be piecemeal and more an exercise in face-saving for the parties.

Sudan and the rebels have so far signed accords on security arrangements, the sharing of power and wealth, and the status of three disputed periods during the six-year interim period.