Sudan rebels debate peace deal

2005-01-24 10:03

Rumbek, Sudan - Leaders of Sudan's main southern rebel group debated a peace deal to end Africa's longest-running war ahead of a vote on approving the agreement with Sudan's government.

On Monday, the Sudan People's Liberation Army's legislative body was expected to endorse the January 9 agreement, which its leader John Garang signed with Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha.

The deal, once ratified by the rebels' National Liberation Council, would be legally binding on the entire group.

Both the government and southern rebels set Monday as a deadline for their legislatures to approve the deal.

The Arab-Muslim-dominated government in the country's north has tabled the peace deal in parliament, but has yet to debate it. It was not clear when the debate would take place, as Monday is a Muslim holiday.

For southern Sudan to fully benefit from the agreement, Garang said his rebel group should help negotiate peace settlements in the country's other conflicts.

"It is necessary that there be a fair and just political settlement in Darfur and in eastern Sudan so that there is a comprehensive peace agreement all over Sudan," Garang said.

The north-south agreement does not cover a 23-month rebellion in Sudan's western region of Darfur or a low intensity insurgency in the Red Sea Hills area of eastern Sudan.

UN and US officials hope that the north-south deal will help end Sudan's other conflicts. The peace agreement provides a formula for southern rebels and the government to share political power and the country's oil wealth and other natural resources.

Garang said his group has developed relations with government officials during 10 years of on-and-off peace talks. Southern, western and northeastern rebels are also political allies because they are members of the country's opposition alliance that is based in neigh boring Eritrea, he said.

Garang also met with the UN chief envoy Jan Pronk on Sunday to discuss the mission, size and composition of a UN force that would monitor compliance with the cease-fire for southern Sudan.

Two million people died during the war in southern Sudan, mainly from war-induced famine and disease. The rebels have been fighting for greater autonomy and a greater share of the country's wealth in the mainly African animist and Christian south.

Diplomats and analysts have said that the almost two-year Darfur conflict also endangers the difficult reconciliation process between north and south.

Hardships including disease and malnutrition are believed to have killed more than 70 000 of the displaced within Darfur since March. Thousands more have been killed in fighting since the conflict broke out in February 2003, although no firm estimate of the direct toll of the war exists.

The Darfur conflict started when two non-Arab African rebel groups took up arms in a bid for more power and a greater share of resources. The government responded with a counterinsurgency campaign.

- AP