Sudan Signs Peace Deal With Eastern Rebel Group
The Sudanese government approved a peace deal Saturday with rebels from the eastern part of the country, ending a deadly conflict overshadowed by the bloodshed in the western region of Darfur.
The Eastern Front has fought an intermittent war with the government for 10 years. The agreement is a relief to Khartoum, which has struggled to put down rebellions on both sides of the country, as well as to keep a shaky peace after a civil war with the south.
The Eastern Front rebels took up arms complaining that the central government exploited their natural resources without developing the region.
In 2005, the United Nations World Food Program said the malnutrition rate in the east had grown worse than in Darfur.
The deal calls for a cease-fire, the lifting of a state of emergency in the east and the deployment of government forces to the region, the official Sudanese news agency reported. About $600 million would be allocated to health and water programs in the area over the next five years.
The Eastern Front has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks on Sudan’s infrastructure.
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