Arab News

KHARTOUM, 30 June 2003 — A peace treaty to end Sudan’s 20-year-old civil war would be only a first step toward keeping the country united, Sudan’s president said, adding that wary southerners would still have to be won over to avoid secession.

“It is easy to sign (a) peace (deal), but it is difficult to convince the southerner who wants war and is being exposed to bad propaganda to vote for unity,” President Omar Bashir was quoted as saying by the privately-owned daily Al-Rai Al-Aam yesterday.

The government and the southern-based rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) have held several rounds of talks seeking a comprehensive peace deal, and have agreed on offering the south a vote on secession after a six-year interim period.

But still to be resolved are other thorny matters such as sharing power and wealth in the oil-producing country.

Bashir said nationwide elections could help convince all Sudanese they had a voice in Africa’s largest country.

“General elections will be held in the first year after the signing of a peace treaty to allow people to have a say in running the affairs of the country,” he said at a gathering on Saturday in the capital Khartoum.

The government has previously said it would hold elections after a peace deal was reached. Bashir also told Saturday’s gathering that international election monitors would be welcome.