Sudan president vows to honour landmark peace deal.

From the Sudan Tribune, indications that President of Sudan al-Beshir will implement the peace agreement.  Also, see below the fold, comments by powerful First Vice President Taha about the nature of implementation, also seemingly in support of the peace process. Of course, we need to retain some skepticism, and, of course, the conflict in Darfur is not yet addressed.  Still, these events may be cause for hope. I would appreciate hearing from readers what they think:

Sudan president vows to honour landmark peace deal

Saturday January 1st, 2005 22:12.

KHARTOUM, Jan 1 (AFP) -- Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Beshir pledged that his government would honour a landmark peace deal with southern rebels to end Africa's longest-running civil war. 

"We are committed to implementing the agreements we reached at Naivasha and to pressing ahead with the reconstruction of all Sudan's war zones," Beshir told MPs, a day after attending the signing in the Kenyan town of the last of the component agreements of a full peace deal to be signed on January 9.

The president told MPs he did not believe that southerners would necessarily opt to break away in an independence referendum promised in six years' time.

"We shall strive to make national unity an attractive choice through our reconstruction and development efforts," he said.

Beshir was addressing parliament on the 49th anniversary of independence from Britain and said the anniversary would in future also commemorate peace.

Visiting South African President Thabo Mbeki also delivered a short speech, congratulating Sudan on the peace deal and saying he hoped the country could now become a model of "unity in diversity" for the rest of Africa.

Mbeki, who earlier made a lightning visit with Beshir to Sudan's other main war zone, the western region of Darfur, said he had received a message from the two ethnic minority rebel groups there indicating their desire for peace.

The Islamist opposition Popular Congress party meanwhile issued a statement welcoming the Naivasha deal.

The party, whose main leaders are all in jail following government accusations of a coup plot earlier this year, said it looked forward to the implementation of the deal's protocols concerning human rights.

These include ending the state of emergency and guaranteeing political, trade union and press freedoms.

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First Vice-President Taha, thought by some to be the most powerful politician in Sudan, has apparently signaled his support for the peace agreement:

Sudan Peace deal will be followed by political, executive and legislative bodies

Sunday January 2nd, 2005 00:03.

KHARTOUM, Jan 1, 2005 (SUNA) -- The First Vice - President of the Republic, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, said that the preliminary period, which will precede the interim period, will begin after the final and ceremonial signing of the peace agreement on January 9.

Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha said that a deal signed with rebels in the south of the country had completed the peace process to end Africa's longest-running conflict, on January 1, 2005. (AFP) . 

Addressing a mass rally at the [ruling party] National Congress Saturday evening, Taha said that the final signing of the peace agreement will be followed by formation of the constitutional, executive and legislative institutions which will assume implementation of the comprehensive peace agreement.

He said that no one will isolate in the peace era from the political participation.

Taha pointed out that there will be no procrastination regarding the democratic transformation, stressing that the there will ample chance for all people to work and engage in constructive dialogue till reaching the stage of elections and democratic transformation.

He said that the peace agreement is firmly based on justice and equality in rights and duties for all the Sudanese people. He said that all the states and the officials in Sudan shall live up for responsibilities for implementing the peace agreement.

Taha indicated that the peace agreement was a fruit of continuous dialogue which was relied on courage and persistence concerning the reflection of demands and views.

The First Vice - President has praised the keenness of Dr. John Garang and the members of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) to achieve peace and to participate in the re-construction and development process in the country.