Notes to editors

The Government in Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) signed a comprehensive peace agreement on Sunday 9 January. The negotiations have been going on in Kenya since May 2002, under the direction of the regional organisation Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). Norway has taken part in the negotiations as an observer, together with the USA, the UK, Italy, the UN and the African Union. The Minister of International Development has been in close contact with the parties.

The peace agreement will apply to South Sudan and to the Nuba Mountains and the Southern Blue Nile in northern Sudan, as well as to the border area Abyei. It sets out detailed provisions on power sharing (South Sudan’s participation in the government and the parliament, etc.), wealth sharing (the oil revenues are to be shared equally between the north and the south), the establishment of autonomy in these regions, a ceasefire and a plan for implementing the agreement. The peace agreement will apply for a six-year Interim Period, after which the people of South Sudan will hold a referendum to determine whether it should continue to be part of Sudan or secede and become a separate country. The Nuba Mountains and the Southern Blue Nile have not been granted the right to self-determination, whereas the border area Abyei has.

The parties will form a coalition government within the next three months, in which other opposition groups in Sudan will take part. One of the new government’s priorities will be to resolve the crisis in Darfur, in western Sudan. National elections are to be held within the next four years. A number of other political, judicial and other institutions are to be established. The SPLM will be converted from a military guerrilla movement to a new civil authority, which will both participate in the government in Khartoum and head the regional government in South Sudan.

The UN will be in charge of monitoring the ceasefire. The monitoring operation, the establishment of civil institutions and the reconstruction activities will all need the support of the international community and will require substantial resources. Norway will support these efforts, which will be able to pick up speed in the spring of 2005. Norway will also arrange a donor country conference for Sudan. The date for the conference will be decided in consultation with the Sudanese parties and major donor countries, and with the UN and the World Bank.

The civil war in Sudan has been going on more or less continually since independence in 1956, with the exception of the period 1972-1983. According to the UN, the conflict has cost the lives of more than two million people since 1983, and between five and six million have been driven from their homes, including two million in Darfur. The fighting in Darfur has been going on since 2003 and is not directly covered by this peace agreement. The African Union has been mediating in the Darfur conflict, but so far this has been to no avail because of continued hostilities in the region. The parties to the Darfur conflict have agreed on a humanitarian protocol and a ceasefire, which so far has not been observed. The African Union is now in the process of deploying a monitoring team to ensure that the parties observe the ceasefire.

In 2004 Norway allocated approximately NOK 390 million for various purposes in Sudan. The funds were channelled through the UN system, the Red Cross system and Norwegian and international NGOs. The Norwegian contributions have primarily gone to the humanitarian operation in Darfur and to humanitarian and capacity-building measures in South Sudan. Norway has also supported a number of peace and reconciliation measures in South Sudan, in addition to the peace negotiations and the monitoring mechanisms established to monitor the humanitarian ceasefires in South Sudan, Darfur and the Nuba Mountains.