Sudan, Rebels Seal Accords to End War

Sudan’s government and rebels signed three key agreements on power-sharing and administration of disputed areas Wednesday, resolving the last issues that were preventing an end to Africa’s longest-running war.

All that remains for the government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army to work out is procedural matters to end the 21-year civil war, in which more than 2 million people have died, mostly of war- induced disease and famine.

The accord is unrelated to the conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan, where fighting between the government and rebels has raised fears of “ethnic cleansing.”

The signing took place in Naivasha, about 60 miles northwest of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. It could take months to determine whether the diplomatic solution will translate into actual peace.

“We have reached the crest of the last hill in our tortuous ascent to the heights of peace,” rebel leader John Garang said after the signing. “There are no more hills ahead of us, the remaining is flat ground.”

The chief mediator, retired Kenyan Lt. Gen. Lazaro Sumbeiywo, said the final round of talks -- when the parties are to work out a comprehensive deal and the details of implementation -- would begin in Nairobi next month and should conclude by July 15.

The latest effort to end the conflict in southern Sudan began in Kenya in 2002, and Sudan’s government and the rebels have already agreed on how to share the wealth of Africa’s largest country and what to do with their armed forces during a six-year transition period.

But the talks stalled in recent months as the parties wrangled over how to share power in a transitional government; whether the capital, Khartoum, should be governed under Islamic law; and how Southern Blue Nile, Nuba Mountains and Abyei -- areas in central Sudan -- should be administered during the transition period.

Wednesday’s signing covered those outstanding issues.

Sudanese Transport Minister Mohammed Elsamani Elwasila said the parties had agreed that in northern Sudan the government and northern groups would have 70% of the positions in federal and state government, while the rebels and other southern groups would have the rest. In the south, the situation would be reversed. Elsamani declined to detail the power-sharing arrangements for the three disputed areas.

Khartoum would be governed under Islamic law, he said, adding that there would be provisions for non-Muslims, but no special protections or exemptions. He didn’t elaborate.

The southern conflict broke out in 1983 after mainly animist and Christian rebels took up arms against the predominantly Arab and Muslim north.