Sudan government, southern rebels sign accord ending Africa’s longest conflict

NAIROBI, Jan 9 (AFP) — Africa’s longest-running civil war finally came to an end as Sudan’s government and southern rebels inked a long-awaited peace accord amid calls for the deal to be extended to cover the crisis in Darfur.

John Garang, and Ali Osman Taha shake hands, Thursday, Oct.7, 04, during the opening of the fifth session of the high level consultative meeting on the Peace Talks in Nairobi (AP)..

Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha and main rebel leader John Garang of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) brought 21 years of conflict to a close by signing the accord here, where it was negotiated under the aegis of east African mediators.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, whose country hosted mediation efforts, and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, chairman of the regional group that sponsored the talks, signed as witnesses, as did other African heads of state and international witnesses, including US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Thousands of Sudanese refugees at the ceremony in Nairobi’s Nyayo National Stadium cheered as the agreement was sealed, singing, dancing and ululating while proclaiming “a new dawn” for their war-ravaged country.

Despite the elation, officials cautioned that both sides must fully implement the deal and urged it be used as a template for a resolution to the dire conflict in Sudan’s western Darfur region.

Sudanese President Omar el-Beshir, who gave Taha responsibility for negotiating on Khartoum’s behalf, said the accord was “not just a deal” but “a new contract for all Sudanese.”

“It is a comprehensive accord that we must use … to resolve the conflict in Darfur,” Beshir said in Arabic through a translator.

“This is the best Christmas and New Year’s gift for the Sudanese people, to our region and Africa for 2005,” said Garang. “This peace agreement will change Sudan for ever.”

“I appeal to all the Sudanese people and our political forces to build consensus around this comprehensive peace agreement and use it to end (conflict) in other parts of Sudan,” he said.

Kibaki said the pact “marks the beginning of a new, brighter future for the people of Sudan,” adding: “We hope that today’s celebrations will also give momentum to a realization of peace and security in Darfur.”

“The people of Sudan expect a lasting peace,” Powell said, urging Khartoum and the SPLM/A to “act quickly to build on the goodwill and momentum of this bright day.”

He stressed that they must address the situation in Darfur, the western region of Sudan that the United Nations says is the site of the one of the world’s worst current humanitarian crises.

“These new ‘partners for peace’ must work together immediately to end the violence and atrocities that continue to occur in Darfur,” Powell said. “Not next month on, in the interim period, but right away, starting today.”

Some 70,000 people have been killed in Darfur and 1.6 million people left homeless since Sudanese troops and their militia allies began fighting Darfur rebels in February 2003.

UN chief Kofi Annan said the north-south agreement represented a “blueprint” for dealing with Darfur, where he described the situation as “horrific.”

In a statement read by Jan Pronk, his special envoy for Sudan, Annan said he hoped that Khartoum and the rebels in Darfur “will be inspired by what has been achieved today and pursue a political solution without delay.”

Sunday’s agreement is the culmination of lengthy negotiations between the government and the SPLM/A that kicked off in earnest in Kenya in early 2002, after numerous false starts since Khartoum and the rebels adopted an agenda for such talks in 1994.

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

While religion has fuelled the conflict, vast reserves of oil, mostly in southern Sudan, have played an increasingly dominant role in the war that has claimed at least 1.5 million lives and left more than four million others homeless.

The cornerstone of the accord — a package of eight protocols agreed since 2002 — is a protocol exempting the south from Sharia law and granting it six years of self rule after which it will vote in a referendum on whether to remain part of Sudan or secede.

Sunday’s signing ushers in a six-month pre-interim period during which both sides will carry out preparations before the official six-year transitional period starts, when the south commences running its own affairs.

SPLM/A will be operating from the southern town of Rumbek, home to United Nations and other humanitarian agencies operating in the south, awaiting the government’s withdrawal from the larger Juba town, also in the south.

Garang should be sworn in as the first vice president, a post currently occupied by Taha, after the Sudanese parliament passes the interim constitution — modelled on the peace peal.

Accordingly, there will be regional and international observers and guaranteed mechanisms, including foreign troops, to ensure that a final peace deal is implemented in the long run.