Sudan Takes Another Step Towards Peace
CAIRO, January 17 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The Sudanese government and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) initialed a political agreement that should see the exiled opposition umbrella group reintegrated into Sudan's political life.
“The two parties have reached an agreement on all political, constitutional and legislative questions defining the steps towards democratic change in Sudan,” Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted Sudanese charge d'affaires Mohammed Abdallah as saying.
The agreement, thrashed out Sunday, January 16, is to be signed on February 12 in the Egyptian capital, said NDA vice president Adel Rahman Saeed.
It envisages lifting the state of emergency in place since 1989 and setting up a joint commission to look at how to reintegrate the NDA into Sudan's political life, a statement said.
The two sides also intend to set up a commission to reintegrate 3,000 armed rebels from the east of Sudan on the border with Eritrea into regular Sudanese forces.
No Timetable
However, the statement did not offer any timetable for these measures.
The text of the agreement calls for the establishment of a “democratic and pluralist” regime that respects “democratic freedoms and human rights.”
“All the sides must unite to rebuild Sudan to carry out development in all areas and I hope that this accord will help to reestablish peace and security in the country,” Abdallah said.
NDA spokesman Khatem Es-Sir also lauded the accord, saying it “brings a practical solution to the question of democratic change.”
The agreement puts an end to 15 years of friction between the government and the opposition group, headed by Mohamed Osman Al-Marghani, a key figure in modern Sudanese history who is now expected to return to Khartoum after years in exile.
It also marks another key step in efforts to bring peace to all of Africa's largest country after a historic agreement between the government and the southern Sudan people’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), signed earlier this month in Nairobi.
The NDA is a coalition of northern organizations which also includes the southern SPLM/A.
The talks leading up to the agreement in Cairo with the country's largest exiled political bloc were held under the auspices of Egypt, whose intelligence chief Omar Suleiman took part in Sunday’s ceremony.
The final phase of talks with the government negotiating team -- led by Vice President Ali Osman Taha -- started last June and then resumed in September with an agenda focused on the constitution and legal rights.
The United States has been showing a special interest in Sudan, which has potential large oil reserves. Chinese companies dominate the oil sector in the country though.
US President George W. Bush signed on December 23, a bill on slapping sanctions on Sudan over the situation in the western troubled region of Darfur.
The UN Security Council has asked the UN, the World Bank and others to devise a reconstruction plan, including possible debt relief, for Sudan once peace is realized.
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