Khartoum govt pledges to restore peace in troubled Darfur

May 29th, 2004.

KHARTOUM, Sudan, May 29, 2004 (PANA) -- Praised by the international community for its commitment to end Sudan's 21-year-old civil war in the south, the Khartoum government has pledged to also settle the escalating conflict in the western region of Darfur where two rebel movements launched a revolt 2003.

"We assure you that the ongoing conflict in Darfur will be settled soon, since the guns in the south has been silenced we will work with the same determination and decisiveness to find a remedy to any hotbed in the Sudan," Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha told government supporters Friday.

Taha, who led the government team that signed a ground breaking peace deal with the south Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) this week in Kenya, promised to announce another "surprise event" soon, but declined to elaborate.

He quoted the SPAL/M leader John Garang as saying "we are fully committed to close the page of grievances and open a new page of co- operation."

Taha said the Khartoum government would continue efforts to bridge the political, economic and cultural gaps between the north and south of the country.

Meanwhile, some opposition parties have welcomed the peace deal as one of the most important achievements since the country's independence from Britain in 1956.

The opposition National Umma Party of former Prime Minister Sadiq al- Mahdi described the deal as "a great step in the right direction," and while commending the accord, the opposition National Alliance Coalition
(NAP) urged all sides to fully implement it.

But the opposition National Popular Congress led by the Hassan el- Turabi, who was re-arrested two months ago in connection with an alleged aborted coup, rejected the peace deal, saying it must be transformed into a national agreement otherwise, "it will only be binding on those who signed it."

Civil war erupted in Sudan in 1983 after the south, dominated by Christians and adherents of traditional religion took up arms to end what they called domination and marginalisation by the mainly Muslim north.

The war, unrelated to the crisis in Darfur, has killed some two million people and displaced four million others.