A brief look at the Sudan peace process and agreement

The new interim unity government, and a new regional authority to be run by Garang called the Government of South Sudan, will have its work cut out to develop the south to a level where southerners warm to Khartoum.

Christopher at Mayflower Hill blog writes two great essays explaining why he does not believe there will be peace in the Sudan. He feels we should all be pessimistic and sceptical about Sudan's prospects for peace along the terms of the Naivasha Protocal signed today which, he says, mirrors the Addis Abab agreement of 1972.

Christopher's first essay, entitled "Hoodwinked", is dated January 3, 2005. The second essay, entitled "Historical Parallels" can be found in a post at Mayflower Hill dated January 8, 2005 [apologies unable to link the post].
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A brief look at the Sudan peace process and agreement

The following is a brief look at the peace agreement reached between the government of Sudan and the southern rebels, the Sudan People's Liberation Army, which will cover the next six years.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: The 10 states in southern Sudan will be secular, while the north will practice Islamic law.

POWER SHARING: Former rebels will hold 30 percent of national posts, the south will be autonomous.

WEALTH SHARING: Oil revenues from the south will be split 50-50 between the north and south.

SOUTHERN SELF DETERMINATION: The south will vote on independence in 2011.

MONITORING: U.N. observers will monitor a cease-fire and demobilization of troops.

Please click here for a brief introduction to the peace process in southern Sudan.

[via ReliefWeb via Xinhua via COMTEX]

Further reading:

Amnesty international UK - Sudan: North-South peace deal signed, but what about human rights?
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Limited opportunities in Sudan as most of the prospective acreage has been taken by non-Western companies

In a hurry yesterday, I extracted the following editorial from a Jan 8 news article but misplaced the link/source:

"Even if the conflict in Darfur is not related to the oil issue, the fact that the country is experiencing a humanitarian crisis due to conflict cannot be overlooked by anyone," said Christine Batruch, vice president of corporate responsibility at Sweden's Lundin Petroleum AB. She said Lundin, which has reduced its activities in Sudan but retains an interest in one block, would plan its activities for 2005 after the signing of the north-south deal. But she added: "Most of the prospective acreage has been taken by non-Western companies and as such there are limited opportunities."

Total said in December it had reached a deal with the government to update terms on a block it operated until security issues forced it to suspend activities in 1985, but added that operations could only resume once peace was restored. "The conflict in Darfur could potentially impact security in the south, in which case we would have to assess the situation," a spokesman said from Paris. Talk of imposing sanctions on Sudan over the Darfur conflict has added to uncertainty. But analysts said China, with its interests in Sudanese oil output and its veto power at the United Nations, would likely oppose any UN sanctions move."