Khartoum, Sudan
Sudan signed a peace agreement this week with rebel factions in the south, in the latest attempt to end a 22-year civil war. The war began in 1983, over oil rights, but morphed into a religious conflict pitting the Arab Muslim north, which controls the government and uses strict sharia law, against the Christian and animist south. Under the new power-sharing agreement, southern Sudan will be partly autonomous and field its own army. African diplomats were optimistic about the deal. “Africa begins the year 2005 on a very good footing,” said South African President Thabo Mbeki. “Let’s party!” But the peace agreement does not cover the bloody conflict in Sudan’s western Darfur region, as that war involves different rebels.
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