Sudan peace deal within reach
2004-05-07 17:41
Nairobi, Kenya - A peace deal to end Sudan's 21-year civil war is within reach after years of talks, the rebel spokesperson said on Friday.
The two key negotiators in the talks - Sudanese vice president Ali Osman Mohammed Taha and John Garang, the leader of the main rebel group, the Sudan People's Liberation Army - have narrowed the gap and have resolved most issues that had held up an agreement, Yasir Arman said.
The only two remaining issues are how two areas in central Sudan will be governed and how national government posts will be divided between the rebels and the current government.
"The solutions on the two issues are possible and they could be resolved in hours if the two parties work seriously together to resolve them," Arman said.
Government negotiators were not immediately available for comment.
Later on Friday, foreign ministers from Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda urged Taha and Garang to be flexible in their negotiations in order to reach a deal when they met the two leaders in Naivasha, 100km west of Nairobi, where the talks are being held.
"The parties reiterated their commitment to resolving the remaining issues and pledged to reach an agreement in the coming few days," the ministers said in a statement.
Until now, the two leaders had made little progress since January in negotiating final agreements on how to share power during a six-year transitional period and who will have control over three disputed areas in central Sudan that are populated by southern Sudanese.
The war erupted in 1983 when rebels from the predominantly animist and Christian south took up arms against the mainly Muslim and Arab north. The rebels say they are fighting for greater equality for the south and for southerners to have the right to choose whether to remain part of Sudan.
Another major issue, which has apparently been solved, was the application of Islamic law in the capital, Khartoum. Arman declined to discuss the issue in detail. Earlier the rebels had agreed that Islamic law could be applied to Muslims in Khartoum, but not non-Muslims.
Negotiators called in mediators on April 16 to help break the deadlock.
Last year, the two sides reached several key agreements on what to do with rebel and government forces during a six-year transition period and how to divide wealth in Africa's largest country.
While the talks between the southern rebels and the government have inched forward, a separate rebellion has broken out western Sudan Darfur region, forcing some 1 million people to flee their homes.
- AP