Sudan peace talks inch forward
2004-04-29 09:29
Nairobi, Kenya - Sudan's vice president and the leader of the main Sudanese rebel group have resumed talks to end the 21-year-long civil war in southern Sudan.
Chief mediator Lazaro Sumbeiywo met separately on Wednesday with Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha and John Garang, the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Army to discuss "all the outstanding issues".
These include details of power sharing during a six-year transition period, the administration of three disputed areas in central Sudan and whether the capital, Khartoum, should be governed under Islamic law, Sumbeiywo said.
Taha and Garang have been negotiating since last September in a bid to thrash out a final deal to end Africa's longest-running conflict.
The two parties have made little progress. On April 16, negotiators called in mediators to help break the deadlock, and the next day Taha returned to Khartoum to consult with President Omar el-Bashir.
Garang left the talks, which are being held in the Kenyan town of Naivasha, last week, but returned on Wednesday.
Overall peace talks have made significant progress, with 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 in western Sudan Darfur region, forcing a million people to flee their homes.
The European Union's head office announced on Wednesday that it was preparing US$12m in new aid for victims of the Darfur conflict and appealed to warring parties to allow "safe humanitarian access".
The international medical aid organisation Doctors Without Borders says that outside assistance to Darfur is "utterly inadequate."
"Mobilisation of aid efforts is slow and the few organisations operating in Darfur cannot meet the full range of needs," the statement said.
"As a result, few of the estimated people displaced by violence in Darfur are receiving food assistance. Furthermore, shelters and drinking water are in very short supply and access to medical care is extremely limited."
It added that without urgent deliveries of large-scale aid, the threat to the survival of Darfur's displaced persons will increase when the rainy season begins in May and roads become impassable.
Human rights groups say the government is giving air force support to Arab tribal militias in Darfur. The government says the tribesmen are defending themselves against autonomy-seeking rebels, but denies aiding them.
The US state department denounced Sudan for barring American aid experts from inspecting the humanitarian needs in Darfur and limiting the ability of humanitarian groups to respond to the crisis.
But Gotbi el-Mahadi, an adviser to Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir, said a high-level UN delegation that arrived in Sudan on Tuesday to visit Darfur was all that was needed now.
- AP