DATE=5/6/98
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-231795
TITLE=SUDAN PEACE TALKS (L)
BYLINE=JOSIAH OBAT
DATELINE=NAIROBI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: PEACE TALKS AIMED AT RESOLVING THE CONFLICT IN SUDAN HAVE
ENDED (WEDNESDAY) IN THE KENYAN CAPITAL, NAIROBI. AS JOSIAH OBAT
REPORTS, THE PARTIES TO THE CONFLICT AGREED TO LET THE SOUTHERN
SUDANESE VOTE ON THEIR INDEPENDENCE, BUT FAILED TO AGREE ON THE
SIZE OF SOUTH SUDAN OR THE ISSUE OF RELIGION.
TEXT: IN CLOSING THE THREE-DAY PEACE TALKS BETWEEN THE
GOVERNMENT OF SUDAN AND THE REBEL SUDANESE PEOPLES LIBERATION
ARMY, THE S-P-L-A, KENYA'S FOREIGN MINISTER BONAYA GODANA SAID
BOTH PARTIES RECOGNIZE THE RIGHT OF SOUTH SUDANESE SELF RULE.
/// ACT GODANA ///
THE SUB COMMITTEE WELCOMED THE AGREEMENT OF THE G-O-S
AND THE S-P-L-A ON THE RECOGNITION OF THE RIGHT OF SELF
DETERMINATION FOR THE PEOPLE OF SOUTH SUDAN TO BE
EXERCISED THROUGH AN INTERNATIONALLY SUPERVISED
REFERENDUM AT THE END OF AN INTERIM PERIOD.
/// END ACT ///
MR. GODANA SAID THE PARTIES WILL NEGOTIATE THE DATE OF THE
REFERENDUM IN FUTURE TALKS, DURING WHICH THE CONTENTIOUS ISSUE OF
THE BOUNDARIES OF SOUTHERN SUDAN WILL ALSO BE DISCUSSED.
THE GOVERNMENT OF SUDAN INSISTS SOUTHERN SUDAN CONSISTS ONLY OF
THE THREE PROVINCES OF BAHR EL GHAZAL, EQUATORIA, AND UPPER BLUE
NILE. THE S-P-L-A SAYS IT ALSO INCLUDES THE AREA OF ABYEI,
SOUTHERN KORDOFAN, AND THE SOUTHERN BLUE NILE.
THE TALKS FAILED TO SECURE AGREEMENT ON THE ISSUE OF RELIGION.
THE S-P-L-A INSISTS ISLAM BE SEPARATED FROM STATE WHILE THE
GOVERNMENT OF SUDAN SAYS RELIGION SHOULD NOT BE DISCUSSED IN THE
TALKS.
SUDAN'S MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, MUSTAFA OSMAN, IS LEADER OF
THE GOVERNMENT DELEGATION TO THE TALKS.
/// ACT OSMAN ///
ON THE ISSUE OF STATE AND RELIGION, THE SUDAN GOVERNMENT
PUT ITS VIEW TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION THAT SUDAN IS A
MULTI-CULTURAL, MULTI-ETHNIC, MULTI-RELIGIOUS COUNTRY SO
THAT IS WHY WE SHOULD NOT DEFINE ACCORDING TO RELIGION
OR ANYTHING. RELIGION SHOULD BE KEPT SILENT AND WE HAVE
TO DEFINE SUDAN ACCORDING TO ITS GEOGRAPHIC BOUNDARIES,
ACCORDING TO ITS SOCIETY, ITS STRUCTURE.
/// END ACT ///
THE S-P-L-A SAYS THE GOVERNMENT OF KHARTOUM HAS MADE THE
CONSTITUTION OF SUDAN, ISLAMIC, THEREBY MAKING IT A NON-ISSUE AT
THE NAIROBI TALKS.
WHILE TALKS CONTINUED IN NAIROBI, A MILITARY OFFENSIVE WAS
OCCURRING IN THE SOUTHERN BLUE NILE NEAR THE TOWN OF KURMUK. THE
WAR HAS LEFT MORE THAN ONE-AND-ONE-HALF-MILLION PEOPLE DEAD,
THOUSANDS DISPLACED AND MOST RECENTLY, 350-THOUSAND AT RISK OF
STARVATION.
THE GOVERNMENT OF SUDAN SAYS IT HAS DECLARED A CEASEFIRE IN ORDER
TO LET HUMANITARIAN AID REACH VICTIMS OF STARVATION, BUT S-P-L-A
SPOKESMAN JOHN LUK SAYS THIS IS ONLY A PUBLIC RELATIONS EXERCISE.
/// ACT JOHN LUK ///
THEY HAVE NOT DECLARED A CEASEFIRE, THEY HAVE JUST
TALKED ABOUT IT. WE SAID WE DID NOT HAVE ANY OBJECTION
IN PRINCIPLE TO A CEASEFIRE, BUT IN TERMS OF THE RELIEF
SITUATION WE THOUGHT THAT THERE WAS SOME MALICIOUS
ELEMENT IN TRYING TO BLACKMAIL ON THE BASIS OF THE
RELIEF SITUATION.
/// END ACT ///
THE NEXT ROUND OF TALKS ON THE 15-YEAR OLD WAR IN SOUTH SUDAN
WILL RESUME IN AUGUST IN THE ETHIOPIAN CAPITAL, ADDIS ABABA.
(SIGNED)
NEB/RAE
06-May-98 1:41 PM EDT (1741 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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