Military

DATE=4/13/2004

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=SUDAN/PEACE TALKS (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-314987

BYLINE=CATHY MAJTENYI

DATELINE=NAIROBI

(EDS: SUBS FOR ITEM INSIGHTED AS SUDAN/CEASEFIRE)

INTRO: Sudan's foreign affairs minister, Mustafa Ismail, says he is hopeful that his country will wrap up peace talks with Sudan's main rebel group, before a U-S-set deadline of April 21st. Cathy Majtenyi reports from Nairobi.

TEXT: A spokesman for Mr. Ismail, Mohammed Sheikh, told V-O-A on Tuesday the minister expressed optimism that a peace deal with the Sudan People's Liberation Army rebel group could be signed within the next nine days.

/// SHEIKH ACT ///

He said that, hopefully, we will reach a peace agreement before the 21st.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Ismail was reacting to a warning the United States issued Monday that the Sudanese government and southern rebel group could face sanctions and other punitive measures, if they do not conclude their long-running peace talks by April 21st.

Mr. Ismail declined to say what his government thinks of U-S sanctions, or what would happen, if no deal is reached by the 21st.

Under the Sudan Peace Act, President Bush is required every six months to judge whether the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army are negotiating in good faith to end their 21-year-old war, which has killed an estimated one-million people, and has displaced many more.

President Bush's next review of the situation is due to take place April 21st.

Last week, the U-S deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Charles Snyder, told reporters in Nairobi that Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha and rebel leader John Garang promised to sign a framework peace agreement by last Sunday.

Mr. Snyder had described the urgency of a successful conclusion to the talks.

/// SNYDER ACT ///

It's been a growing concern of ours that these talks are dragging on too long, when both sides know very well what the answers are, what range within which the answers are to be found.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Snyder had said 90 percent of the issues had been dealt with and that the major issue yet to be agreed upon is whether Sudan's capital, Khartoum, should be ruled by Islamic law, or should be secular to accommodate those from the south, who are largely Christian or animist.

The deputy ambassador in the Sudanese Embassy in Nairobi, Dirdeiry Ahmed, refused to comment on the April 21st deadline, the issue of sanctions, or what specifically is holding the talks up.

He told V-O-A the two sides are, in his words, moving ahead steadily and are doing quite okay. But he would not say when he expected an agreement to be reached.

The rebel group could not be reached for comment. (SIGNED)

NEB/CM/ALW/KBK/TW