By Elizabeth Costner
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Africa

KHARTOUM, Sudan – A high-level panel set up to resolve the political stand-off between south Sudan and the government has stopped working just days after it began.  The talks have reportedly failed due to disagreements over the oil-rich Abyei region.  The U.S. Sudan envoy, Andrew Natsios, stated that all of the differences have been resolved except for the status of the central Abyei region and the north-south border. 

The crisis began four weeks ago when the main southern party, Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), withdrew from the governing coalition.  SPLM accused Khartoum of failing to implement the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended a 20-year conflict. 

SPLM’s Vice-President, Malek Agar, told journalists that the committee suspended its work due to differences on how to deal with disputed matters and the persistence in disagreements over the CPA.  However, Agar said the suspension of work was not “the end of dialogue” aimed at ending the crisis.  The committee is now waiting for instructions from President Omar al-Beshir and south’s First Vice President Salva Kiir. 

The 2005 CPA provided for six-year transition period in which the south would enjoy regional autonomy and participate in a national unity government in Khartoum.  In 2011 southerners will vote on whether they want to be independent or remain a part of Sudan. 

Sudan’s north-south civil war was Africa’s longest and resulted in the loss of 2 million people and the displacement of 4 million.  The war was between Khartoum’s Islamic government and the mostly Christian and animist southern rebels, and was complicated by religion, ideology, and oil. 

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Talks fail to end Sudan stand-off – 11 November 2007

Reuters – North-south Sudan talks fail to reconcile ex-foes – 11 November 2007

AFP – North-south Sudan talks stumble – 11 November 2007