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Gold/Mining/Energy : ARAKIS: HIGH RISK OIL PLAY (AKSEF) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Robert Meany who wrote (7272)	11/10/1997 1:14:00 PM
From: LARRY LARSON	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9164

Hi Kids- Something meaningful from the peace talks?? By Matthew Bigg NAIROBI, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Sudan's government has called for a federation between north and south in reply to rebel demands for confederation at peace talks which were drawing to a close on Monday. The Khartoum government and the political wing of the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) were drafting a joint communique on Monday ahead of a meeting on Tuesday with Kenya's President Daniel arap Moi, a senior foreign ministry official said. Tuesday's meeting, the first with Moi since discussions began on October 29, would signal the end of the first phase of the talks about ending Sudan's 14-year civil war, the official said. ''They are working on a joint communique and it won't be released until the meeting with the president tomorrow (Tuesday) morning,'' said a senior foreign ministry official. ''That will be the last formal meeting before Christmas... They have reached a stage when they need to do some other consultations and then reconvene,'' the official said. Further meetings would be scheduled for next year, Kenyan and Sudan government sources said. John Garang's SPLA has strong regional backing, including military support, and its recent successes on the battlefield counted against any dramatic breakthrough at the Nairobi talks, diplomats said. One reason for a suspension of the talks was impending general elections in Kenya, diplomatic analysts added. Mediator Kalonzo Musyoka, Moi's foreign minister, is also the organising secretary of the ruling Kenya African National Union party. Khartoum has proposed federalism for the south in answer to a demand by the SPLA's political wing for confederation between the north and south. In a confidential four-page document the government said last week it supported self-determination for the south on the basis of a federation and autonomy. ''The right of self-determination to the People of Southern Sudan shall be re-affirmed by all parties as a political solution for the conflict in Southern Sudan,'' the document, provided by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, said. ''Federalism shall be adopted throughout the Sudan as a formula for self-administration and decentralisation to satisfy the aspirations of the Sudanese people. ''Each state is autonomous and has its elected legislature, cabinet of ministers and independent judicial organ.... All powers, except those universally accepted as federal, are devolved to the states,'' said the document. On the disputed question of Islamic Sharia law the document said: ''Sharia and custom shall be the sources of legislation in the Sudan'' but it proposed that ''the basis of rights and duties in the Sudan shall be citizenship...'' Khartoum's decision in 1983 to impose Sharia law on the whole of Sudan including the largely Christian south has fuelled the war, which has claimed an estimated 1.3 million lives since its modern phase began in 1983. The document is the first formal response to an SPLA call last week for a referendum on self-determination after a two-year period of confederation between north and south. Confederation was unacceptable to Khartoum since it implied agreement between two sovereign states, sources close to the talks said. One senior observer said the two documents provided a sound basis for future discussion between the two sides and added that defining the south's borders could prove a key issue. ''We have seen broad agreement on the issue of self-determination and clear differences on what to do about areas not defined as part of the south,'' the observer said. ''Both sides have formally addressed the issue of religion and the state, but clearly there is room for more discussion on that,'' the observer said. 09:23 11