Sudanese, S. African presidents to witness signing of Sudan peace deal

NAIROBI, Dec 31 (AFP) — Presidents Omar el-Beshir of Sudan and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa are due to arrive in the Kenyan town of Naivasha to witness the signing of the last accords paving the way for the conclusion of a final peace agreement in southern Sudan.

South African President Thabo Mbeki (L) is welcomed by his Sudanese counterpart Omer Hassan Ahmed El Bashir upon his arrival at Khartoum International Airport, Sudan, Thursday, December 30, 2004 (AFP).

The two presidents left Khartoum for Nairobi, after which they will board a Kenyan government chopper to the town of Naivasha, 80 kilometres (50 miles) northwest of Nairobi), the Sudanese embassy in Kenya said.

On Thursday, Sudan’s Vice President Ali Osman Taha and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) leader John Garang agreed on a permanent ceasefire and on details on how the final peace agreement will be implemented.

A comprehensive peace deal will be signed in Kenya on January 9.

Mbeki’s delegation includes Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and her defence counterpart Mosiuoa Lekota, according to a statement released by South African foreign ministry in Khartoum.

Mbeki was in Sudan to discuss post-war rebuilding ahead of a final peace pact.

“The signing of the Naivasha Agreement will herald a new dawn in Sudan’s political and economic development bringing to an end Africa’s longest running civil war and paving the way for reconstruction and development in Sudan,” the South African statement said.

Peace in Sudan “will not only be a victory for the people of the Sudan but also demonstrates the political will of the African leadership through the African Union to create the conditions for peace, security and stability on the continent,” it added.

“The end of the conflict in the Sudan will now enable the African continent through the AU Committee on Post-Conflict Reconstruction of the Sudan, chaired by South Africa, to now focus on socio-economic development in Sudan,” said the statement.

The latest agreements mark the end of sticking points in the peace talks, which started in Kenya in early 2002, and pave the way for the drafting and eventually signing of the much awaited agreement to end 21 years of fighting in southern Sudan.

The two sides pledged last month in writing before the UN Security Council to sign a final peace deal by year-end.

The Sudan war erupted in 1983 when the southern rebels rose up against Khartoum to end Arab and Muslim domination and marginalisation of the black, animist and Christian south.

The war and its effects have killed at least 1.5 million people and displaced four million others in the former British colony that got its independence in 1956.

The latest deal does not cover a separate conflict in Sudan’s western Darfur region which flared up in February 2003, when rebels from minority tribes launched a revolt against Khartoum, demanding an equal share of national development.