Sudan ceasefire renewed
2004-05-31 12:45
Nairobi - Sudan's government and the country's main rebel group have extended a ceasefire for three months, to allow both parties to clinch a comprehensive peace agreement to end 21 years of conflict, mediators said on Monday.
"The two sides last week renewed the ceasefire for the next three months because the existing one was due to expire today (Monday)," said Kenyan chief mediator Lazaro Sumbeiywo.
The ceasefire was signed in October 2002 and has often been renewed since then.
Khartoum and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) on Wednesday capped two years of talks in Kenya by signing accords on the last remaining issues barring the way to peace in Sudan's wider civil war.
Only the details of a comprehensive ceasefire and how to implement the agreements for the south remain to be sorted out.
A final round of negotiations is due to resume on June 22 in Kenya, to flesh out final details on how to halt the war that erupted in 1983 and has claimed at least 1.5 million lives and displaced more than four million people.