Regional group to help Sudan implement peace deal

NAIROBI, Jan 7, 2005 (Xinhua) — The foreign ministers from seven east African countries have agreed to mandate a ministerial sub- committee to monitor the implementation of the comprehensive Sudanese peace agreement to be signed Sunday.

The ministers, attending a meeting of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Friday in Nairobi, appeals to the international community to render necessary support for the implementation of the Sudanese peace deal.

IGAD is a regional group consisting of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.

“The ministers appealed to the international community to assist in the implementation of the peace agreements reached by the Sudan and Somali peace processes by rendering the necessary diplomatic, political, technical and financial support,” reads a communique issued at the end of the meeting.

The meeting recommended the extension of the IGAD Secretariat for peace in the Sudan to coordinate the activities of the various task teams to be formed after the signing of the comprehensive peace agreement.

Leaders of east African countries will on Saturday hold a summit in Nairobi to discuss post-conflict reconstruction of Sudan and Somalia, a day ahead of the signing of a final peace deal between Khartoum and southern rebels.

On Sunday, Sudan’s President Omar el-Bashir and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) leader John Garang will sign a final peace agreement to end the 21-year-old civil war in southern Sudan.