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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
SUDAN: Gov't, SPLM/A resume talks on southern conflict
NAIROBI, 7 Dec 2004 (IRIN) - The Sudanese Vice President Ali Uthman Taha and the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), John Garang, resumed high-level talks on Monday in their latest attempt to end two decades of war in the south, officials said.
The resumption of talks, the officials added, had raised hopes that a comprehensive peace accord between the two parties could be signed before the end of the year, as agreed in a memorandum of understanding signed by them in November.
"The SPLM/A is optimistic and determined to have a comprehensive peace agreement before the end of the year," spokesman Yasser Arman, who is attending the talks in the Kenyan town of Naivasha, told IRIN on Tuesday.
"The one-on-one talks between Taha and Garang will go on until Christmas Eve," he added.
The two leaders arrived to resume high-level negotiations more than a week after delegations from both parties had started discussing details of a permanent ceasefire and technical security measures.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representative for Sudan, Jan Pronk, spoke to both Taha and Garang on Monday and Tuesday, urging them "to maintain a constructive atmosphere of compromise," Radia Achouri, spokesperson for the United Nations Advance Mission in Sudan, told IRIN.
Pronk also met Gen Lazarus Sumbeiywo, the chief mediator of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a regional organisation, which is spearheading the peace process, to discuss the level of progress made so far by the parties towards achieving a comprehensive peace agreement.
"The political willingness of both parties is there and they are quite optimistic that the outstanding issues will be resolved before 31 December," Achouri said on Tuesday. "They are fully aware of the commitment they made to the international community last month."
Both parties signed the Memorandum of Understanding at an extraordinary session of the UN Security Council held in Nairobi, Kenya, on 18 and 19 November, pledging to reach a comprehensive peace agreement by the end of the year.
"The parties declare their commitment to expeditiously complete negotiations on ceasefire agreement and implementation modalities, so as to conclude and sign the comprehensive peace agreement no later than 31 December 2004," the memorandum said.
The Sudanese state minister in the office of the president, Yahya Hussein Babikar, signed on behalf of the government, while the SPLM/A main negotiator, Nhial Deng, signed for the southern-based rebel movement.
In May, the government and the SPLM/A had signed six key protocols, covering power-sharing arrangements and the administration of three contested areas during a six-year interim period that will precede a referendum to determine whether the south would remain part of Sudan.
The main outstanding issues that remain to be resolved include the details of a permanent ceasefire, the financing of the SPLM/A-army during the interim period and the modalities for integrating the fighters into the regular Sudanese army.
The war in the south erupted in 1983 when the SPLM/A took up arms against government authorities based in the north to demand greater autonomy. Talks have been going on in Naivasha since mid-2003.
[ENDS]
This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004
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