Sudan's vice president and the country's main rebel leader signed a comprehensive peace agreement to end Africa's longest-running conflict yesterday, concluding an eight-year process to stop a civil war that has cost more than 2 million lives since 1983.
In a lavish ceremony in neigh-boring Kenya -- where the talks were based -- Sudanese Vice Pres-ident Ali Osman Mohammed Taha and John Garang, chairman of the Sudan People's Liberation Army, signed the peace agreement.
The north-south war has pit-ted Sudan's Islamic-dominated government against rebels seeking greater autonomy and a greater share of the country's wealth for the largely animist south. The conflict is blamed for more than 2 million deaths, primarily from war-induced famine and disease.
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed as witnesses. US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Italy's Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini and Norwegian International Development Minister Hilde Johnson then signed as witnesses, representing donors who've backed the peace negotiations.
Kenya has hosted the talks since they began in earnest in 1997 and Museveni is the current chairman of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a regional grouping that has mediated the talks.
The deal "will close a dark chapter in the history of Sudan ... This is a promising day for the people of Sudan, but only if to-day's promises are kept,'' Powell said.
Nine other African leaders attended the ceremony, including Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir and African Union Chairman and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. Arab League Secretary General Amre Moussa was also present.
During the last two years of talks, the adversaries have signed protocols on how to share power and natural wealth, what to do with their armed forces during a six-year transition period and how to administer three disputed areas in central Sudan.
They also agreed that after the six-year transition, southerners would vote in a referendum on whether to remain united with the north, or to become independent.
UN officials have said the Security Council will review the peace agreement within two weeks, after which the council will adopt a resolution establishing a peace support mission for Sudan.
The mission's key tasks will be to monitor the ceasefire and protect its observers, as well as help the government and rebels reduce their forces and move them to designated areas as agreed to in the protocols.
For the Sudanese government and the rebels, the next step after signing the peace deal will be for the parliament in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, and the rebel parliament to ratify the agreement within two weeks.
After that, negotiators will work on an interim national constitution.
Joseph Lange, 58, from the village of Aweng in southern Sudan said that he feels while the agreement is not perfect, it's definitely worth trying.
"In terms of wealth sharing, we share the wealth of the south, but the north doesn't share. But we've been at war for a long time so it's worth trying something new," Lange said at Nairobi's Nyayo National Stadium ahead of the opening ceremony.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
RSS