KHARTOUM, 3 November 2005 — Sudan’s President Omar Bashir has issued a decree establishing a body to oversee implementation of the permanent cease-fire with former southern rebels nearly 10 months after they signed a peace deal.

The president also issued a decree naming members of the National Petroleum Commission created in late October in line with the accords that ended more than two decades of north-south war, officials said yesterday.

The accords called for the formation of a number of commissions, including the Constitutional Review Commission that drafted the country’s interim constitution and the yet to be formed Human Rights Commission.

Officials said the presidential decree establishing the Cease-Fire Political Commission used the Jan. 9 peace agreement as a reference to determine membership in the commission.

Under the deal, the commission’s members would include a representative each from the ruling National Congress Party and its peace partner, the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).

“One senior officer each from the SAF (Sudan Armed Forces) and SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army)” would also be members in the commission, the agreement said.

It also named as members of the commission the UN special envoy in Sudan and a representative of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which sponsored the negotiations that led to the signing of the accords.

The main responsibility of the commission will be to “supervise, monitor, and oversee the implementation” of the cease-fire that came into force after signing of the Jan. 9 Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

The UN has begun deploying a 10,000-strong peace support contingent to help the parties carry out their obligations under the cease-fire deal.

Meanwhile, Sudan has arrested and disarmed more than 20 Chadian army defectors near the common border following a September mutiny in the east of the country, an official said yesterday.

The soldiers were detained in the West Darfur state capital of Geneina earlier this week and will be handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross, said Hassan Bergu, African affairs spokesman for the ruling National Congress.

“The authorities in Geneina on Monday arrested two officers and about 20 troops of the Chadian army who infiltrated into West Darfur,” the official told AFP.