UN envoy sees signing of Sudan peace agreement as soon as year end

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, September 30, 2003

UN envoy sees signing of Sudan peace agreement as soon as year end

The United Nations top humanitarian envoy for Sudan said Monday that the Sudanese government and the rebels may sign a peace agreement as soon as the end of the year.

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The United Nations top humanitarian envoy for Sudan said Monday that the Sudanese government and the rebels may sign a peace agreement as soon as the end of the year.

"I am more confident than ever that there will be an agreement,that we will have a peace agreement in Sudan," Tom Eric Vraalsen, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy for humanitarian needs for Sudan, told reporters here.

Vraalsen said that during his recent trip to Sudan, he had met with senior officials of the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).

He said he was "very impressed" that they had told him they were "committed to stay engaged as long as it takes to bring talks to a successful end, that is to say until they have a comprehensive peace agreement."

The talks and the commitment, he said, were "a major breakthrough event for the people of the country, but is also major event for regional stabilization in that part of the world."

The government and the SPLM, which reached a security deal lastweek in Kenya, were scheduled to meet again in October, he said.

But he thought the talks would slow down again during Ramadan and the Christmas season, so "a comprehensive agreement probably will not be signed until towards the end of the year."

According to Vraalsen, the 20-year-old civil war in Sudan has left some two million people dead and four million others internally displaced.

He urged donors to support UN activities in the country by responding actively to the UN appeal for more than 420 million US dollars in aid for Sudan.

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