Algerian papers welcome Sudanese peace agreement
ALGIERS, Algeria, Jan 10, 2005 (PANA) — Algerian newspapers on Monday applauded
the definitive agreement signed in Nairobi, Kenya Sunday to end
21 years of fighting between the Sudanese government and the
rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).
With a banner headline “A continent on the path to peace”, the
daily El-Moudjahid writes that: ” the will to install peace is at
last gaining ground in a continent continually ravaged by
fighting and fratricidal wars thanks to enlightened leaders whom
the continent can only commend today.”
According to the newspaper, “by its incidence and implications,
as well as its windfall, the signing of the intra-Sudanese
agreement raises immense hopes, firstly that of leading to the
extinction of other tension hotbeds, especially among the most
sensitive ones, which affect the DR Congo and Cote d’Ivoire,
which have literary been ravaged by fratricidal fighting.”
On its part, the newspaper Horizons came out with a front-page
story titled “The South joins the North” and writes that: “the
war which broke out between the North and South of Sudan in 1983
following Khartoum’s decision to impose Sharia (Islamic law) in
the southern part of the country with a Christian and animist
population has officially ended.”
Meanwhile, with an article titled “The agreement officially
signed, the daily El Watan writes that the rebel leader John
Garang and Omar El Bashir (Sudanese president) stood side by side
for the first time to listen to the national anthem since the
Sudanese president came to power in 1989. This is the
unprecedented part and direct consequence of yesterday’s (Sunday)
signing ceremony in Nairobi of the agreement expected to end the
conflict in Southern Sudan.”
On its part, Le Jeune Indépendant wonders whether that agreement
represents a ray of hope for the ongoing crisis in Darfur.
“The Sudanese vice-president Ali Osman Taha and the leader of the
southern rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) John Garang
signed the final Southern Sudanese peace agreement in Nairobi
yesterday. They deserve to be invited to the negotiations devoted
to Darfur in Abuja, Nigeria.