| US in threat to pull out of Sudan peace negotiations CAIRO, Egypt, Monday America�s peace envoy to war-torn Sudan warned the country�s feuding parties yesterday that Washington may stop supporting peace talks if a settlement is not reached within six months. John C. Danforth told reporters after meeting Egypt�s foreign minister that the United States might lose interest in the Sudanese peace process if the African nation�s Islamic-oriented government and southern rebels fail to agree within six months on terms to end their two-decade-old civil war. A third round of Sudanese peace talks is expected to begin January 15 in the Kenyan town of Machakos. Talks in July saw both sides sign a protocol providing for the separation of state and religion in southern Sudan, and a referendum on self-determination for the south in six years. Egypt did not attend the first two rounds of talks and its foreign minister, Ahmed Maher, said Sunday that it did not plan to participate in the upcoming discussions. Maher did not discuss Egypt�s reservations on the Machakos accord. He said America and Egypt shared a similar vision for Sudanese peace, yet had different approaches to achieving an end to the war, which has killed more than 2 million people through fighting and related famines. The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, which groups East African and Horn of Africa nations, has been chairing peace talks between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People�s Liberation Army since the mid-1990s. The IGAD produced the framework for the Machakos accord. Egypt and Libya have long promoted their own joint peace initiative. The civil war began in 1983 when southern rebels took up arms against the predominantly Arab and Muslim northern government in a bid to obtain greater autonomy for the largely animist and Christian south. The conflict is fueled by religious differences, and competition for oil, land and other resources. � AP |
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