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Danforth returning to the Sudan to resume peace talks
2003-007-2
1/15/2003
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[Episcopal News Service]
The US State Department has announced that former senator John Danforth, an ordained Episcopal priest, is returning to the Sudan as the Khartoum government and the southern rebels prepare to resume peace talks.
Danforth will also visit Egypt, Kenya and Eritrea for talks on the peace process as follow-up to discussions with both sides in the Sudan in Washington last month. According to the State Department, the talks were supposed to resume January 15 but Khartoum said that it hadn't received its invitation yet. The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) said the new round of talks, aimed at ending two decades of civil war, should begin soon in Kenya.
The talks will focus on three main issues, including the status of sharia or Islamic law in Khartoum. Previous talks led to what many regarded as ground-breaking protocol agreements last July that granted a six-year period of self rule in the south, composed mainly of Christians and animists. A referendum would then decide whether the region would secede or remain part of the Sudan. A second round of talks started in August to finalize that agreement was suspended by Khartoum in the face of a rebel victory in the south.
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