SUDAN: Agreement on southern conflict within reach - officials

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

NAIROBI, 22 Dec 2004 (IRIN) - A comprehensive peace agreement between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) to end two decades of conflict in the south could be signed within days, officials involved in peace talks in Kenya said on Tuesday.

"The talks are going very well and the SPLM/A is optimistic that an agreement will be reached on the outstanding provisions within the coming three days," SPLM/A spokesman Yasser Arman told IRIN from Naivasha, Kenya, where the negotiations are being held.

Muhammad Ahmad Dirdeiry, the Sudanese Deputy Ambassador in Nairobi, told IRIN: "The parties have finalised the implementation modalities of the wealth-sharing provision and reached agreement on two of the three [disputed] regions [of Nuba Mountains, Abyei and Southern Blue Nile]."

"The Sudanese government is committed to resolve the last outstanding issues," he added. "We hope to reach an agreement in a few days."

Sudanese Vice President Ali Uthman Taha and SPLM/A leader John Garang resumed high-level talks on 6 December, raising hopes that a peace accord could be signed by the end of the year, as agreed in a memorandum of understanding they signed in November.

In the memorandum, initialled at an extraordinary session of the UN Security Council held on 18-19 November in Nairobi, Kenya, the two sides pledged to reach a comprehensive peace agreement by 31 December.

Sources in Naivasha told IRIN on Tuesday it had been agreed that the existing borders around the oil-rich Abyei region would remain until a joint review committee would agree on a final demarcation, taking into account the settlements of ethnic groups in the area.

On the Nuba Mountains, it had been agreed that this region would remain part of South Kordofan State, whose administrative capital would be Kadugli. The SPLA/M had wanted Nuba Mountains, which are geographically part of northern Sudan, to be included in the south.

Sources said the main outstanding issues left included the details of a permanent ceasefire and power-sharing modalities during the interim period - in particular between the two vice-presidents that are envisioned.

The government of Sudan and the rebel SPLM/A had in May signed six key protocols covering power-sharing arrangements and the administration of the three contested areas during a six-year interim period that would precede a referendum to determine whether the south would remain part of Sudan.

The war in the south erupted in 1983 when the rebels took up arms against the government based in the north to demand greater autonomy. Talks between the parties have been going on in Naivasha since mid-2003.

On 14 December, the UN envoy to Sudan, Jan Pronk, urged the parties to expedite the talks, saying the settlement of the southern conflict was key to solving the humanitarian crisis in the western Sudanese region of Darfur.

He said a peace accord in the south would lead to a new constitution and a new government which would be sympathetic to the situation in Darfur and more open to negotiation.

The conflict in Darfur is between the Sudanese government and militias allegedly allied to it, on the one hand, and, on the other, rebels fighting to end what they call the marginalisation of and discrimination against the region's inhabitants by the state.

According to the UN, the Darfur conflict has displaced at least 1.65 million people and is one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

[ENDS]