Sudan’s Government, Rebels Agree to Divide Oil Revenue

In marathon weekend peace talks, Sudanese officials and rebel leaders agreed to share their country’s burgeoning oil revenue, a key step toward ending a 20-year civil war that is responsible for the deaths of 2 million people, mostly from disease and starvation.

The two sides, which are meeting in Kenya, are still working on a wider deal on how to carve up the country’s wealth. Other unresolved issues include how power would be shared and who would control three disputed areas in central Sudan that contain rich oil deposits.

Sudan, Africa’s largest country by territory and an emerging petroleum exporter, has been at war for all but 11 years since its 1956 independence.

The chief mediator in the peace talks, retired Kenyan Lt. Gen. Lazaro Sumbeiywo, described the oil-sharing agreement as a breakthrough but offered no details. Speculation centered on a 50-50 split, but Sumbeiywo said the parties were still working out the details during Sunday’s talks.

“The principles of oil sharing are there. The details are yet to be decided,” he said.

The struggle to control resources, particularly oil, has been a stumbling block in the bid to end the war, one of Africa’s longest-running conflicts

In 1983, the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army, representing the Christian and animist south, rebelled against efforts by the predominantly Arab, northern-based government to impose Islamic law, or Sharia.

Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha and SPLA leader John Garang have been meeting in Naivasha, a resort town northwest of Nairobi. Diplomats and analysts said the sides are closer than they have ever been and there is a will on the part of both sides to end the conflict, which has also displaced 4 million people.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell met both sides in Naivasha in October, and President Bush recently telephoned government and rebel leaders offering various incentives for a comprehensive peace deal, including an invitation to the White House. The U.S. has also offered a hefty aid package and said it would lift sanctions against Sudan once a peace deal is signed.

As the government and the rebels talk, a humanitarian disaster is unfolding in the western Darfur region, where two other rebel groups are fighting Arab militias reportedly backed by the government.

At least 600,000 people have fled their villages in recent months to escape attacks and looting by the militias. About 3,000 civilians are reported to have been killed, and the government has been accused of bombing villages that may be harboring rebels. The government denies arming the militias.

Humanitarian agencies have warned that a hard-won peace deal could quickly fall apart if the Darfur conflict is not resolved.

Sumbeiywo said in a telephone interview Sunday that the government and SPLA were “very close” and that a major peace agreement could be signed by the end of the year.

“It’s an issue that requires people to move with speed, and they can do it if they want to,” he said. “It’s not unrealistic.”