October 17, 2002	Thursday	Sha'aban 10, 1423

MACHAKOS (Kenya): Sudanese rebels say they have signed a temporary ceasefire with the government — the first time in 19 years of civil war that a nation-wide cessation of hostilities has been agreed upon.

“We have just signed a memorandum of understanding between the government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA),” SPLA spokesperson Samson Kwaje said on Tuesday.

The aim of the ceasefire is to create a conducive atmosphere for peace talks being held in the Kenyan town of Machakos.

“The parties have agreed to maintain a period of tranquillity during the negotiations by ceasing hostilities in all areas of the Sudan and ensuring a military stand-down for their own forces including allied forces and affiliated militia,” said Kwaje.

The peace talks are due to resume shortly.

“The troops will stand-down. They will not attack, except maybe in self-defence. No convoys, no re-supplies will take place unless with notification of the other party, in case of evacuation of sick soldiers or something,” Kwaje explained.

All alleged violations will be reported to the mediators who will be assisted by the observers, namely Norway, Italy, the United States and Britain.

“As of now we are already instructing our forces that come Thursday midday there will be complete cessation of hostilities. They will just remain where they are and we hope there will be good will on either side,” said Kwaje.

Given the deep-seated hostility and distrust between the Sudanese government and the rebels, it is likely that there will be allegations of cease-fire violations from both sides.

The government of Sudan introduced a temporary ceasefire as a precondition for resumption of the negotiations after it walked out of the talks last month. The SPLA’s capture of the strategic southern garrison town of Torit had ‘spoiled the atmosphere of the talks’, the Sudanese government complained.

When the Sudanese government recaptured Torit last week, after two weeks of heavy fighting, it agreed to return to the negotiating table.

The ceasefire agreement was due to be signed on Monday, to pave the way for the resumption of talks, but was delayed because the government was pushing to exempt eastern Sudan from the truce.

The opposition umbrella group, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), is spearheading an offensive against government forces there. SPLA forces make up about 60 per cent of the NDA troops.

The NDA seized Hamashkorib town and other posts in eastern Kassala State near the Eritrean border earlier this month. This has soured relations between Sudan and Eritrea, which it accuses of supporting the SPLA militarily.

“The Eritrean capital has become a base for harbouring the military commanders and the political leaders of the rebellion movement,” Sudan’s government alleged in a statement last week, labelling Eritrea ‘malicious’, ‘injudicious’ and ‘a source of trouble and destabilisation for the whole region’.

However, fighting was still continuing in Kassala, media reports said on Tuesday, quoting state governor General Adam Hamid Mussa saying ‘furious battles are going on in Old Rassai’ north-east of Hamashkorib.

Sudanese state-run Radio Omdurman also reported on Tuesday that the Sudanese army had recaptured further garrison towns in East Equatoria State, building on their success in regaining Torit the previous week.

Despite the current fierce fighting, hopes for peace in Sudan are higher than they have been for many years, following the signing of a ground-breaking agreement in Machakos in July.

In that document, the government of Sudan offered south Sudan a referendum on independence after a six year interim period and exempted it from Sharia.

The first items on the agenda for discussion in this second round of talks are power-sharing, wealth-sharing and a comprehensive ceasefire.

The current temporary ceasefire is excellent news for Sudanese civilians. Since the SPLA took up arms against the Sudanese government in 1983, some two million people have died, mainly from war related famine.

Their plight has been worsened by the government’s refusal to allow access to vast swathes of southern Sudan, claiming that ongoing fighting makes it unsafe for humanitarian agencies to go in.

On Sept 26, the government banned all relief flights from eastern and western Equatoria for 10 days. This had a major negative impact on all aid activities across southern Sudan, preventing hundreds of thousands of people receiving emergency food and medical relief.

The current truce, expected to last for the five weeks of negotiations, should dramatically improve aid agencies’ access to these people. If it is a success, they are likely to push for an extension.—Dawn/The InterPress News Service.