Sudan rebels demand 60 percent of oil revenue: Egyptian report

CAIRO, Aug 21 (AFP) — Sudan’s southern rebels asked for 60 percent of the oil revenue of their country during peace talks with the Khartoum government to end their 20-year civil war, the official Egyptian news agency MENA said Thursday.

The rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) “demands 60 percent of the oil revenue and 40 percent of government jobs,” MENA said, quoting sources close to the negotiations being held in Kenya.

Sudan currently produces about 300,000 barrels per day of crude from fields in the center of the country, close to the battle zones between the army and the SPLA.

MENA also said SPLA leader John Garang had demanded “the positions of governor of the south, a region stretching over 10 states, and of first vice president” with “rights to veto the decisions” of President Omar al-Beshir.

The agency said “a miracle” was needed to save the talks, which are currently in their final round but are reportedly deadlocked.

The independent Khartoum daily, Al-Sahafa, said Tuesday that talks in the central Kenyan town of Nanyuki had been indefinitely postponed after Khartoum refused to negotiate on the basis of a draft deal drawn up by east African mediators.

But the next day the SPLA denied the report, saying the talks were still ongoing in view of reaching a possible agreement by September 20.

Khartoum and the SPLA struck in July 2002 a breakthrough accord granting the south the right to self-determination after a six-year transition period and exempting the south from Islamic laws.

But Khartoum and the rebels are still wrangling on how power and resources can be shared during the interim period, as well as security arrangements.

The conflict has claimed at least 1.5 million lives and displaced four million people.