Sudan combatants close to peace deal

The Sudanese government and rebels have reached agreements on outstanding issues that have stalled efforts to end a 21-year civil conflict, paving the way for a comprehensive peace deal. The two sides will sign three protocol agreements today at talks in the Kenyan town of Naivasha, the Kenyan foreign ministry said yesterday.

The Sudanese government and rebels have reached agreements on outstanding issues that have stalled efforts to end a 21-year civil conflict, paving the way for a comprehensive peace deal. The two sides will sign three protocol agreements today at talks in the Kenyan town of Naivasha, the Kenyan foreign ministry said yesterday.

"The signing of the protocols represents a major step toward the achievement of a final and comprehensive political settlement to the conflict," the ministry statement said. "An agreement on ceasefire and implementation modalities is expected to be signed soon."

More than two million people have perished, mainly through war-induced famine, since rebels from the mainly animist and Christian south of Sudan took up arms against the predominantly Arab and Muslim north in 1983.

"There is an agreement," said George Garang, an official with the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army. "The rest of negotiations will focus on modalities of implementation, international guarantees, redeployment of troops and a few issues."

The latest peace process began in July 2002. But the talks have been stalled in recent months on how power should be shared in a transitional administration, whether the capital, Khartoum, should be governed under Islamic law, and how three disputed areas in central Sudan should be administered during the six-year interim period.

The talks in Naivasha do not involve insurgents fighting a 15-month rebellion in the Darfur region of western Sudan, which has forced more than a million people from their homes. Aid workers have described the situation in Darfur as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.