KHARTOUM, 14 October 2006 — Sudan and eastern rebels are to sign a peace agreement today in the Eritrean capital Asmara, ending years of fighting and offering a glimpse of hope in a country mired in the Darfur crisis. The landmark deal after negotiating parties from the Khartoum government and a coalition of rebel groups known as the Eastern Front cleared the final hurdle before inking a final agreement.
Chief government negotiator Mustafa Osman Ismail announced that the final protocol on power sharing had been agreed upon, following earlier deals on the issues of wealth sharing and security. The deal would be the third peace agreement signed by Khartoum with rebel groups in various parts of the largest nation in Africa in less than two years.
An agreement between Khartoum and the main rebel faction in the war-torn western region of Darfur was signed in May this year but has failed to take hold. A landmark peace deal was also signed between Khartoum and southern rebels in January 2005, bringing an end to more than two decades of fighting, the longest civil war in Africa.
The former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement is now in a national unity government with President Omar Bashir’s National Congress but relations have often been strained.
Bashir dispatched his vice president to the ceremony of the north-south agreement but the embattled leader was expected to be there in person for today’s ceremony.
