S. African president in Sudan for talks on post-conflict reconstruction
JOHANNESBURG, Dec 30, 2004 (Xinhua) — South African President Thabo Mbeki has arrived in Khartoum for talks on post-conflict reconstruction in Sudan as the Sudanese government and the main rebel group are expected to sign a peace agreement Friday.
A statement by the Department of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said that Mbeki led a high-level government and business delegation on an official visit from Thursday to Saturday.
South Africa currently chairs the African Union (AU) Committee on Post-Conflict Reconstruction of the War-Affected Areas in Sudan.
The visit to Sudan will, accordingly, provide an excellent opportunity for Mbeki and his counterpart President Omar Hassan Ahmed el-Bashir, to discuss the post-conflict reconstruction of war-affected areas in Sudan.
They will also discuss the Sudanese North-South peace process at Naivasha and the AU-sponsored peace process in Abuja to resolve the conflict situation in Darfur, western Sudan.
Consequently, the statement said “the visit to Sudan must be understood within the context of the expected conclusion of the Naivasha Comprehensive Peace Agreement between both the government of Sudan and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) scheduled for Dec. 31, 2004.”
The signing of the Naivasha Agreement will therefore, herald a new dawn in Sudan’s political and economic development, it added.
In this regard, South Africa has already committed itself to providing, together with the University of South Africa, training for the SPLM leadership and other cadres to equip them with skills and experience that will enable them to participate equitably in the transitional national government of Sudan.
In addition, the two presidents will also have an opportunity to discuss strategic bilateral political and economic relations, following which a cooperation agreement that will lay the basis of the consolidation and expansion of bilateral relations will be signed.
The Sudan war erupted in 1983 when the southern rebels rose up against Khartoum.
The war and its effects have killed at least 1.5 million people and displaced 4 million others in the former British colony that got its independence in 1956.