Inter- Sudanese security agreement finalized, welcomed by Moussa

The Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and the leader of the southern rebels John Garang expressed hope that the agreement on security matters will open the door for peace that would end 20 years of civil war in the country that resulted in claiming the life of more than 2 million persons.

Sudanese official mass media said that Garang made a telephone call with al-Bashir to congratulate him following the agreement finalized by the two sides in Kenya recently and explained that Garang noted that the "most difficult obstacle in the road to peace has been eliminated."

On the other hand, Bashir expressed his thanks to Garang, the leader of the Sudan People Liberation Army, who had met on July. He expressed his hope that the negotiations will be conducive to a comprehensive and final peaceful agreement aiming to putting an end to the sufferings of the Sudanese people in the north and in the south.

The Sudanese minister of information quoted Bashir as saying in a meeting for the Cabinet that "agreeing to the principle of self- determination ( in the south ) places the issue of the country's unity in the heart of the government problems." The Sudanese president considered that peace after 20 years of civil war "constitutes a responsibility and duty of every citizen."

In New York, The secretary general of the Arab league Amr Moussa welcomed the agreement in serving Arab and African security. In a statement, Moussa said "we are for any agreement that ends the civil war in this country on the ground that it will preserve the safety of the land of Sudan and ease down conditions."

The Sudanese government and the main rebels group on Thursday signed a security agreement which eliminates a large obstacle that impeded the course of peace talks.

Sudan's Vice President Ali Othman Muhammad Taha and John Garang achieved an important breakthrough three weeks after their negotiations in Kenya in their agreement to settle the situation of the two warring armies in the provisional period which is considered the most complicated matter in the peace negotiations.

Solving this problem will open the door wide for concluding a final statement after settling the issue of authority sharing and resources especially the rich oil fields in the south in which the two sides achieved a great deal during the past rounds.

The security agreement assigns the two armies to establish joint units including soldiers from the government and the people's army forces during the transitional period. A copy of the agreement shows that a joint force of 24,000 troops will be deployed in the southern part of the country and another joint military unit of 3000 troops will be dispatched to the capital Khartoum.

Two units of the joint forces, of 6,000 troops will be sent to al-Nouba mountains area and the southern Blue Nile estate under conflict, as well as to Aibe areas, and the Sudanese government has to withdraw its forces from the south within two and a half years, while the rebels agreed to withdraw from eastern Sudan within one year of the transitional period. The two sides also agreed to cease fire under international supervision and this is to be reinforced as soon as a final peace agreement is signed.