Inter- Sudanese peace agreement to be signed before December 25th
An official at the US Department Of State expected reaching a peace agreement in Sudan before December 25th, following the realization of progress in the negotiations taking place in Kenya between the two delegations of the Sudanese government and the southern rebels. The US under secretary of state for African affairs, Charles Snider, said on Wednesday that the negotiations are currently held in Kenya achieved a progress to the extent it might result in " a comprehensive agreement" before December 25th.
Snider told journalists that "there is a genuine desire to finalizing an agreement, and there is hope to complete all that before the end of the year and before Christmas, but he indicated continued outstanding issues on one or two points regarding the ceasefire and the issue of sharing resources.
On the other hand, the Tunisian minister of information said in Geneva where he takes part in the information summit that after 20 years of civil war the Sudanese government hopes to have the possibility to reaching a peace agreement with the rebels by the fall of the end of the year. He added that he hopes that the current round of talks with the rebels, will be the last.
In Nivasha ( Kenya) where Sudanese peace talks continue, sources from the two sides, expected to reach and agreement within the two coming months. A source close to the negotiations said that the "two sides and the mediators expect a comprehensive agreement including the implementation process before the end of January 2004." Meantime, a rebel group in West Sudan said that the government of Sudan killed 25 civilians in an air raid against the poor Darfour area. The " Justice and equity" movement, one of two main rebel movements started rebellion in Darfour in February, said that a plane bombarded civilians for 15 minutes on Wednesday morning.
Meantime, the British minister of state for International development Hillary Ben, who is visiting Khartoum, told journalists yesterday that the access of humanitarian aid to Darfour is needed drastically as the situation is very "bad," and affects millions of the population. In her message to the people of Darfour she said "stop fighting because without stopping fighting we can not provide needed humanitarian aid."