Sudan has edged closer to a final peace deal after the government and rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army signed three protocols on Wednesday night that are crucial to ending Africa’s longest-running civil war.
The leader of the government’s delegation to the peace talks, Idris Mohammed Abdel Gadir, and the deputy leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), Pagan Amum, were on hand to sign the accords in Naivasha, near the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. This town served as the venue for negotiations.
SPLA Chairman John Garang and Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha also exchanged copies of the documents amidst cheers from the two delegations and others who braved the chilly night to witness this long-awaited occasion.
Over two million people have been killed and four million displaced by the conflict in southern Sudan, which has been waged by the Islamic government in the north — and black Christians and animists in the south.
Negotiations between the two groups got underway in 2002. However, sticking points developed over power sharing in a new government and control of three contested areas in central and eastern Sudan: Abyei, the Nuba Mountains and the Southern Blue Nile. The groups were also at odds about whether the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, should be placed under Islamic law, or sharia.
Under Wednesday’s agreement, the parties will form a government of national unity for an interim period of six years that will devolve power to states within the country.
Southern Sudan, where government has been battling the rebels since 1983, will become autonomous for the interim period. At the end of the six years, the region will hold a referendum on whether it should secede from the rest of Sudan. Garang will become president of southern Sudan — and serve as vice-president in the government of national unity.
Khartoum and the SPLA have also agreed on how the Nuba Mountains and Southern Blue Nile regions should be governed. Abyei will be administered by the government of national unity during the interim period, then hold a referendum on its future status.
Control of this region has proved an especially contentious issue, as Khartoum claims that Abyei’s geographical location places it in the northern territories controlled by government. The SPLA says Abyei’s inhabitants are drawn from the Dinka tribe of southern Sudan, and that the region should be considered part of the south.
Although a permanent cease-fire between the two groups has yet to be agreed, Garang appeared optimistic that a lasting peace in the country was inevitable.
”By signing the protocols, we have reached the crest of the last hill in our ascent to the heights of peace. Today, we have surmounted the last hills…I believe the remaining is flat ground,” he remarked at the signing ceremony.
For his part, Taha noted that ”With the protocols, a salvation revolution has been realised for the whole country.”
Kalonzo Musyoka, Kenya’s minister of foreign affairs, was also hopeful that the accords would have beneficial effects for the entire region — particularly Uganda.
Rebels from the Lord’s Resistance Army have been attacking northern Uganda since 1986, reportedly from bases in southern Sudan with government assistance. The hope is that a lasting peace in Sudan would make Khartoum view this alleged assistance as untenable.
”Peace in the Sudan means peace for the IGAD (Inter-Governmental Authority on Development) region,” Musyoka told those gathered at the signing ceremony. The peace talks have been chaired by IGAD, a regional body that comprises Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Somalia and Djibouti.
According to IGAD’s special envoy to the Sudanese peace talks, Lazaro Sumbeiwyo, a final cease-fire is expected in the next two months. The two parties are expected to reconvene in three weeks to discuss this matter, as well as how the various protocols will be put into effect.
Other peace accords signed by the two parties include the Machakos protocol of 2002 which stipulated that sharia would only be applied in northern Sudan, which is predominantly Muslim — not the Christian south. The parties have also agreed to form an integrated army that comprises an equal number of government and rebel troops, and to share the wealth derived from oil and other resources.
Wednesday’s agreements did not receive universal acclaim, however. The Southern Sudan Defence Force (SSDF), an opposition grouping, claims it was sidelined in the negotiations.
”The deal is only for two people, Garang and government,” Peter Kueth, an said SSDF official in Nairobi. ”We are not party to any peace agreement being negotiated by SPLA and government and therefore we will not recognise it.”
The SSDF, together with United Democratic Salvation Forces and the Union of Sudan African Party, operate under the auspices of the South Sudan State Council, led by Riek Gai. The SSDF is reportedly the military wing of the council.
Kueth added, ”We will not endorse the proposed peace agreement and we will reject all attempts to dissolve or disarm our party.”
These statements were dismissed by Sumbeiwyo. ”It is not my problem. Those claiming to have been left out are inside all the agreements reached. They should read the deals and see where they come in,” he said in a telephone interview Thursday.
The signing ceremony was overshadowed by events in the Darfur region of western Sudan, where government is accused of conducting a campaign of ethnic cleansing against black Sudanese from the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups.
Attacks against these people are reportedly carried out by Arab militias known as the ”Janjaweed” (meaning ”men on horseback”), backed by Khartoum. About a million people are said to have been displaced by the campaign, which has seen villages razed, crops burned and livestock stolen.
Although the Darfur conflict began more than a year ago, international concern about the situation in western Sudan has escalated sharply in recent weeks.
The conflict started after two loosely-allied rebel groups in Darfur, the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement, staged attacks to protest against ongoing raids by the Janjaweed, amongst other things. Sudanese officials have denied allegations of ethnic cleansing.
A delegation from the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) has also drawn attention to alleged atrocities by Arab militias in the Upper Nile region of southern Sudan, again with support from Khartoum ‒ something that may cast doubt on the government’s commitment to the peace process.
Speaking to journalists in Nairobi last week, AACC President Mvume Dandala said church sources in this area had told him that up to 23 000 villagers in Upper Nile had seen their homes destroyed — and that 150 000 people may have been displaced by the raids.