Monday, Jul 22, 2002
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The agreement, signed on Saturday in Kenya between the Government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army, resolved the major causes of the 19-year-long war and established a framework for talks next month to draft a final peace deal. The most contentious issue of the war — which has left more than 2 million people dead — has been the SPLA's demands for some form of autonomy for the southern Sudanese, who are mainly animist or Christian. The deal between the rebels and Khartoum's Islamic Government includes agreement on the separation of state and religion as well as self-determination for the southern Sudanese. A leading official from the Opposition leader, Hassan Turabi's Popular National Congress Party offered cautious praise for the deal. Mohammed Hassan al-Amin said the party ``welcomed in principle Saturday's signing ... (but) issues and established facts such as Islamic law, Federal rule and unity should not be compromised.'' ``International sponsorship of the agreement'' might also pressure the Government into making a compromise, Mr. Hassan al-Amin said. Sudan's main Opposition party voiced support for the breakthrough agreement, which demonstrates the strength of Khartoum's desire to hold Sudan together by sharing power and backing away from Sudan's Islamic revolution. ``The Umma Party welcomes the agreement and all that leads to peace,'' the party's deputy chief, Omar Nur el-Dayem, said. Ghazi Suleiman, a human rights activist, said the agreement was historic. He urged the Government to ``lift the injustice that befell the southerners from successive northern Governments.'' The ruling National Congress party said in a statement, ``we have passed the major hurdle on the road to achieve peace.'' Government and SPLA officials on Saturday said further peace talks next month in Kenya would focus on integrating rebel leaders into the national Government and sharing the country's oil wealth. They also said the Sudanese Constitution would be rewritten to ensure that sharia, or Islamic law, can be used in the north but will not infringe non-Muslims' rights in the south. Under the agreement, Khartoum will have six years to prove it is serious about creating a pluralistic country in which religious differences are respected. Six years after the signing of a peace agreement, the Government has agreed to hold an internationally monitored referendum to allow southerners to choose whether they want to remain as part of Sudan. The Sudanese President, Omar el-Bashir, came to power in a 1989 coup orchestrated by Mr. Turabi, the Islamic ideologue also responsible for instilling the fundamentalist brand of Islam that became the basis of Sudanese law. Mr. Turabi and Mr. Bashir later fell out after the President accused his one-time ally of trying to undermine his rule. Mr. Turabi has been under house arrest since early 2001. In recent years, Sudan has backed away from extremism and taken on a more moderate outlook. Ordinary Sudanese have embraced the easing of strict Islamic dress and other social codes and exiles have begun returning home. The U.S. President, George W. Bush, has been pressuring the warring parties to find peace through appointing a special envoy, the retired Senator John Danforth, to act as his point man on the Sudanese file. — AP
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