KHARTOUM, 4 April 2005 — A delegation of more than 100 former rebels arrived in the Sudanese capital yesterday to begin implementing a peace deal signed with the government in January that ended Africa’s longest civil war. Commander James Wani who heads the delegation from south Sudan is the most senior member of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement to go to Khartoum since the war began in 1983.
“We are here to boost our partnership with the (ruling) National Congress and to revitalize our contacts with all political forces in the country,” SPLA Secretary-General Wani told journalists.
Three months of meetings will begin with thrashing out a new constitution to form the basis of a power-sharing government between Khartoum and the former rebels, senior SPLM official Yasir Arman told Reuters. Arman and Nhial Deng are due to stay in Khartoum for that time to head the talks and Arman said meetings had already begun. The SPLM team arrived early this morning and would send delegations to offices in the south after three days, Arman said.
Under the January deal the rebels and the government are to form a coalition government, decentralize power, share oil revenues and form joint military units. The SPLM has opened six offices in Khartoum and at least 11 others around the country to register new members as it transforms into a political party from a military movement.
The SPLM rebels were due to arrive in Khartoum soon after the signing of the deal on Jan. 9, almost two months ago, but were delayed because of logistical problems. Although this puts the plan to form a new government of unity within 6 months of the deal under pressure, diplomats said the schedule was ambitious anyway and they expected a delay.
The SPLM’s armed wing, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, fought soldiers of the government since 1983. More than 2 million people were killed during the war, mainly through war-induced famine and disease. The peace deal signed in Kenya made SPLA leader John Garang a first vice president, cleared the way for the drafting of a new constitution, and gives southern states the opportunity to vote on secession in six years. The SPLM will also take 30 percent of seats in a transitional national government.
The delegation’s members arrived in Khartoum from Kenya and the southern Sudanese rebel-controlled city of Rumbek. Previously, the SPLM had said the delegation would travel to Khartoum to launch a campaign to inaugurate the movement’s offices throughout Sudan.
Three small SPLM offices opened in Khartoum before the January peace treaty signing, but their operations are expected to expand with the arrival of the delegation. Some of its members will remain here while others will travel to the main southern towns of Juba, Wau and Malakal. Others will be based in marginalized areas in the Blue Nile, South Kordofan and West Kordofan states.
“We will also work to reach a peaceful and just solution to the Darfur and eastern Sudan question,” said Wani said, stressing that conflicts should be resolved through negotiations. The southern civil war is separate to the 2-year-old Darfur conflict in western Sudan, during which 180,000 people are estimated to have died. In eastern Sudan, tribes people and opposition activists have also clashed with government forces seeking greater rights and state assistance.
