A peace deal to end the latest 20 year round of war in Sudan may not be signed this week as previously announced, a senior Sudan dictatorship official has said. The United States is pressing both sides to reach a deal by 31 December and President Bush had requested this be signed in Washington.
| "We'll get around to it. Don't rush us..." |
The Sudan military dictatorship of Arab and Islamist background based in Khartoum is in peace negotiations with the largest non-Arab rebel group in the south of Sudan. The negotiations however do not involve the myriad of other rebel groups in the south, nor any of the groups in Darfur, Sudan’s largest state making up roughly one third of the country to the west. Darfur is in meltdown with the Khartoum regime facing widespread opposition, and threatened by the fact that most of its internal repressive security aparatus is staffed by the Darfur ethnic group, which are black African Muslims.
A delegate at the talks in Kenya, told reporters that resolving issues on the three disputed regions is "proving to be a nightmare". The war in Sudan against the Arab dictatorship is Africa’s longest running war and has left some six million people dead. Sudan’s arab-islamist dictator military General Omar al-Bashir has also suggested the 31 December deadline may be missed, but said a deal will be reached "within a week". The government and the main southern rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) last week reached an agreement to share oil resources, which had been one of the key issues. They have also agreed to set up a joint army.
| To use against each other? |
Civil society is concerned that both parties which have had no record of concern for human rights and democracy will simply share the spoils of national wealth while continuing to oppress the Sudanese people.
| That's the usual recipe, isn't it? Has it occurred to anyone else that Omar has to go? |
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