Under heavy foreign pressure, the government and rebels in war-weary Sudan signed a deal yesterday to split the proceeds from oil fields and other resources as part of an overall peace settlement.
The landmark agreement between formerly bitter enemies moves Sudan significantly closer to ending its 20-year civil war, Africa's longest-running conflict.
"This moment in which we have signed a wealth-sharing agreement spells an end to the long episode of war and conflict in our country," Vice-President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha, the chief government negotiator, said at a signing ceremony in Naivasha, Kenya.
Rebel leader John Garang of the Sudan People's Liberation Army called the deal a major achievement. "The Sudan peace process is now irreversible," he said.
Control of petroleum riches has been a major factor in the conflict since 1999, when Sudan began exporting oil in a partnership with Talisman Energy Inc. of Calgary and other companies.
Talisman pulled out of Sudan last March after selling its stake to a subsidiary of India's state-owned oil company. It had been attacked by critics who said the Khartoum government engaged in ethnic cleansing and other atrocities to keep oil fields safe from rebels.
The SPLA accused the government, which is dominated by Arabic-speaking Muslims from northern Sudan, of refusing to share oil wealth equitably with residents of the mainly non-Muslim south, site of most petroleum deposits.
The deal signed yesterday is for a 50-50 split of proceeds from oil and other southern resources during a six-year transition. It sets up a national petroleum commission to consider ideas for oil development.
It also says Sudan will have two banking systems: an Islamic structure forbidding most types of interest for the north, and a Western-style system in the south.
The current round of peace talks began nearly two years ago. The two sides earlier agreed to share power during the transition period, and allow a referendum on independence for the south at the end of it.
Several hurdles remain, including the structure of power-sharing and the status of three disputed regions along the frontier between the northern and southern parts of the country.
Fighting between the government and the SPLA has caused an estimated two million deaths, mainly from starvation and disease.
It has also uprooted at least four million people.
At the same time, a separate conflict is raging in the western Darfur region, where an estimated 600,000 people have been forced from their homes.
The United States, Canada, European governments and the United Nations have all leaned heavily on the government and the SPLA to negotiate.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who held talks with Mr. Taha and Mr. Garang in October, telephoned both men as well as President Omar el-Bashir on his first day back at work last month after prostate surgery.
"The international community has sent extremely strong signals that you have to settle this," said Eric Reeves, an English professor at Smith College in Massachusetts and a long-time Sudan human-rights activist.
An end to the wars would open the door to lifting U.S. sanctions and removing Sudan from Washington's list of terrorism-sponsoring nations.
Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden lived in Khartoum from 1991 to 1996.
"It would get this government international legitimacy — three to six years to basically wipe the slate clean," David Mozersky, an expert on Sudan with the International Crisis Group, said from Kenya yesterday.
David Mann, Talisman's manager of corporate communications, said the company doesn't regret selling its Sudan stake instead of hanging on in hopes of a peace deal.
"You make decisions based on the environment at the time, based on what your shareholders are telling you they want," he said.
Asked whether Talisman would consider returning, he said the company has its hands full with other projects.
"I wouldn't say it's impossible," Mr. Mann said.
"But it's not something we're actively looking at right now."
