Treaty gives Sudan a shot at peace

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Africa's longest civil war is over. Sun-day's peace agreement, signed in Nairobi, Kenya, by Sudan's government and the Sudan

People's Liberation Army and its nonmilitary arm, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, now referred to as the SPLM/A, ended fighting that began in the mid-1980s. The war claimed 2 million lives and displaced 4 million people.

The treaty commits both sides to a permanent cease-fire, stipulates the even division of oil revenues between north and south, and allows the three southern states to hold a referendum after six years to decide if they want to secede.

In the meantime, rebel leader John Garang is to become Sudan's vice president, and the south of the country is to be governed as a semi-autonomous region, with the right to maintain its own armed forces.

"Sudan provides a link between Africa and the Middle East, and it is a very important country for America," said Princeton Lyman, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations. "It has lots of energy resources and could be a key front in fighting terrorism."

Attempts to impose Islamic law on the mainly Christian and animist south triggered Sudan's civil war in 1983.

Osama bin Laden wound up in Sudan after being expelled in 1991 from Saudi Arabia, his native land, and he was kicked out by the Khartoum government in 1994 following U.S. and Saudi pressure.

"After 9/11, the Khartoum government seemed to be saying that it no longer wanted to be associated with terrorism," said Heather Deegan, a fellow of the Royal Institute for International Affairs in London.

Sudan's fledgling oil industry has been a factor in the country's north-south conflict.

"We understand that the people of Darfur [in restive western Sudan] have genuine grievances about development and discrimination, and since the SPLM is going to be incorporated into the government, we are committed to end the conflict," said Baak Wol, a SPLM/A spokesman.