Washington cautiously welcomes Sudan’s peace deal

NAIVASHA, Kenya, Dec 31 (AFP) — The United States welcomed the finalisation of outstanding issues in the Sudan peace talks, but said that more was still needed to be done in the volatile western Darfur region in order to bring peace in the whole of Sudan.

Sudan’s General Mohamed Hassan el-Fadow (L) shakes hands with SPLM/A Commander Taban Deng after they signed accords on two outstanding issues paving the way for the signing of a comprehensive peace deal to end Africa’s longest-running conflict in Naivasha, Kenya (AFP).

“It is gratifying that they have agreed, but the enthusiasm is being tampered by the ongoing tragedy in Darfur,” US ambassador to Kenya William Bellamy told AFP in an interview at the Kenyan northwestern town of Naivasha, 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the capital Nairobi.

“There won’t be much time to celebrate, we will have to go and work on Darfur,” Bellamy said.

The way was cleared on Thursday after Sudan’s Vice President Ali Osman Taha and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) leader John Garang clinched accords on a permanent ceasefire and on details of how the final peace agreement would be implemented.

A lasting truce will enter into force on January 9, the day a comprehensive final peace deal will be signed in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

Presidents Omar el-Beshir of Sudan and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa were due to witness the signing in Naivasha.

The agreement 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.

That conflict has so far claimed 70,000 lives and displaced 1.6 million people, amid rampant human rights violations.

“I hope Garang and the SPLM/A will make Darfur a top priority when they are in government. I hope this peace agreement will create new opportunities for Sudan to realise peace,” Bellamy said.

“It shows the people of Darfur that there is a better way to end conflict. There is no military solution in Darfur whatsoever,” Bellamy said.

“It will also help create stability in eastern Sudan,” he said, in reference to several small rebel groups that have been battling the Khartoum government there since 1994, also complaining of marginalisation.