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Vol 45 No 1

Published 9th January 2004


Peace from above

Western pressure is on, led by the United States, for Sudan's National Islamic Front and the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement to sign a framework peace agreement this month. The US government's preferred date is 18 January for signing at the peace talks in Kenya, to be followed by a reception for the two delegations in Washington on 19 or 20 January. It will be presented as another victory for the US-led 'war on terror'. The fact that the NIF regime has hosted Usama bin Laden and several Al Qaida-linked Islamist 'charities' in Khartoum will be cited as an indicator of the significance of the peace accord. Some British officials suggest that at least another four months' hard negotiations lie ahead before a comprehensive peace agreement can be signed. Others suggest the mood of the two delegations is now so upbeat that the details could be hammered out in six weeks. Both SPLA and NIF delegations agreed to allow US military experts to produce the terms of a detailed security accord, a key component of the comprehensive agreement along with oil-wealth and power sharing, for their perusal.

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