Government, rebels want united Sudan

Government, rebels want united Sudan says Bashir

Khartoum |Gulf News | Reuters 29-07-2002

Sudan's president has said the government and the country's main rebel group are committed to a united Sudan although they have agreed a peace deal offering the south the option of independence in a future referendum.

President Omar Hassan Al Bashir spoke late on Saturday on return from Uganda where he held a historic first meeting with John Garang, head of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) which has fought a 19-year-old civil war against Khartoum.

The two sides announced a "breakthrough" in talks on July 20 in Kenya with an agreement that included the option of the south breaking away from Khartoum rule after a referendum.

But Bashir said both sides would prefer to keep Sudan together.

"Both the government and the SPLA expressed their acceptance of the Machakos protocol and commitment to peace and unity, voluntary unity in Sudan," Bashir told reporters, referring to the Kenyan town where the peace deal was announced.

Analysts said the meeting between Garang and Bashir showed a new determination to find a lasting peace. But they warned both sides faced a battle ahead to satisfy all groups in the vast African state.

"It showed their commitment at the highest level to what has been achieved and to what they should do and achieve in the coming few weeks," El Sadig Bakhit Abdullah, a former press adviser to Bashir and former diplomat, said.

"The sharing of power, the sharing of wealth, and how Sudan will be governed tomorrow, are the issues that need a real effort and real concessions from both parties, and also a real support from all the political forces in the country," he said.

Garang, the veteran leader of the SPLA which launched its latest drive for greater autonomy for the mainly Christian and animist south of Sudan in 1983, said the two sides would meet again in Kenya in mid-August.

Several issues are still to be resolved, and analysts have said that agreeing a dividing line between the north and south could prove tricky because most of Sudan's oilfields lie in the south.

Many northern opposition groups have broadly welcomed the deal, but there have been voices of dissent, including from the party of imprisoned Islamist leader Hassan Al Turabi, a former Bashir ally. Last week, a party official condemned the pact for making concessions over Islamic law.

The role of foreigners, particularly the United States, in helping push the two sides together has also been criticised by some, while analysts said some regional states fear the possible break-up of Sudan, including Egypt which does not want another state which could make demands on precious Nile water.

The Sudanese government has sent an envoy to Egypt and other states as part of a diplomatic effort to explain the deal.

"Both sides are seeking to be more broad-based for when the talks resume," said David Mozersky of the International Crisis Group, adding that some opposition groups could feel sidelined because they have not been included in the Kenya talks.

Abdullah said differences between some factions in the south could work in favour of those seeking a united Sudan.

"There are a lot of differences within the south itself. A lot of small groups in the south, they would prefer to be part of a bigger Sudan than in a south dominated or controlled by one tribe or another," he said.

Meanwhile, Sudan called on Libya to keep up its peace efforts, following the signing of a protocol accord between Khartoum and southern rebels.

Sudan's Information Minister Mahdi Ibrahim delivered the call, contained in a message from Bashir during a meeting with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, officials said.

He also informed Gaddafi, whose country has since 1999 co-sponsored a peace initiative with Egypt aimed at preserving the unity of neighbouring Sudan, on the peace accord.