Sudan leaders pledge end to civil war

NAIROBI, Kenya -- After traveling halfway around the world to provide symbolic support to Sudan's peace process, the U.N. Security Council on Friday adopted a resolution to provide political and economic help if Sudan ends its 21-year civil war by the end of the year.

With the Security Council's 15 members acting as witnesses, leaders from the two warring sides signed an accord to complete peace talks by Dec. 31. Then Sudan's Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha, grasped the hand of rebel leader John Garang, and they raised their arms in victory. They called each other "brother" and were expected to serve as co-vice presidents.

"We are keen, we are fully committed to give the people of Sudan and the people of Africa the gift of peace in the New Year," Taha said.

More than 2 million people have died during the conflict between rebels seeking a greater share of power and wealth for the largely Christian and animist south and the Islamic national government. Under the prospective agreement, the rebels will join the government and share in the country's revenues. The rebel-held south will be allowed to vote on self-rule after 6 1/2 years.

The sides have vowed several times to conclude their peace, but Sudanese continue to die, mainly of war-induced hunger and disease. U.S. ambassador John C. Danforth acknowledged that skeptics have called the unusual Security Council trip a grand bit of stagecraft, with the Security Council envoys literally standing behind the two leaders, to both support and to push.

"It is up to you to prove the naysayers and skeptics wrong, and to move your country forward toward joining the family of nations," Danforth told the Sudanese leaders. To help them along, the council unanimously passed a resolution providing for a massive package of development aid and debt relief once the fighting stops and wealth and power-sharing agreements are in force.

The resolution also connected the end of Sudan's 21-year-long civil war to the prospect of stabilizing a more recent conflict in Darfur. Sudan's western region erupted in violence in February 2003, when the government joined with largely Sudanese Arab militias to put down a non-Arab rebel movement. The government-backed fighters are accused of systematic attacks that have driven about 2 million people from their land and left an estimated 70,000 dead. The United Nations is investigating the killings as a genocide.

Human rights groups have criticized the resolution because it makes only a glancing reference to sanctions if Sudan's government does not fulfill its promises to disarm and prosecute their paramilitary allies.

"We thought having the Security Council here might be a turning point for the people dying in Sudan," said Brendan Cox from Oxfam. "But we can't get aid to 200,000 people who are cut off by violence, while the Security Council is dithering, going for unanimity at the expense of action," he said.

Finding the right tone on Darfur was a subject of great debate among Security Council members. China, Russia, Algeria and Pakistan had been reluctant to highlight Darfur for fear of diminishing the Sudanese government's cooperation in the peace talks.

After intense negotiations that began in New York on Tuesday and continued on the 17-hour plane flight, the council finally struck a balance on Thursday between pushing the peace while keeping sight of Darfur.

The resolution demands access for aid workers, an end to all violence and the forcible repatriation of displaced people., a particular concern since about 1.6 million are living in tent cities in the western region. But it does not spell out the consequences for non-compliance.

During the council's unusual four-day trip to Nairobi, the fourth time it has met outside of New York since 1952, and the first time in 14 years, it also held a meeting on peacekeeping in Somalia and on working with the African Union for security in the region. The African Union has been taking a larger role in solving the continent's conflicts, including sending 3,200 peacekeepers to Sudan.

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