The peace process continues in the Sudan, at least with regard to the main North-South conflict which has claimed millions of lives over the past four decades. Under the coalition agreement, former rebel leader John Garang has become the new Vice President of the Sudan. There will be a six-year interim period in which the southern rebels will maintain troops to ensure compliance by Khartoum. At the end of the six years, the southerners can then vote on succession.

This is an excerpt from the New York Times (registration required):

NAIROBI, Kenya, July 9 – Sudan elevated a former rebel leader on Saturday to the vice presidency of the government he had long tried to overthrow, a merging of onetime combatants into a single leadership that took Sudan another step away from decades of war.

In an elaborate ceremony in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir appointed John Garang, leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, as his top deputy. The two longtime enemies waged one of Africa’s longest-running civil wars, which caused an estimated two million deaths before a cease-fire accompanied the signing of a peace agreement in January…

Besides sharing political power, the government and the southern rebels have agreed to divide up the region’s oil wealth, merge their armies and hold a referendum in six years to let southerners, who are predominantly Christian and animist, decide to whether to secede from the rest of Sudan, which is mainly Muslim…

Despite the truce between the Sudanese government army and Mr. Garang’s southern rebels, skirmishes continue between the rebels and militia groups in the south allied with the government. Rebels have also emerged in eastern Sudan with their own grievances against the government.

Then there is the conflict in the western Darfur region of Sudan, which has drawn international condemnation because of the government’s heavy-handed tactics against the civilian population. Peace talks between the government and two groups of Darfur rebels, held in Nigeria, produced a declaration of principles this week but no comprehensive settlement…

Oil remains a source of tension between the government and the Garang-led southerners. Mr. Garang’s rebel movement began in 1983 after Chevron discovered oil in the area straddling the country’s north and south. Southerners argued that the revenue was only benefiting the north.

The biggest challenge of all may be meeting the expectations of southerners, who are tired of war and eager to see their dismal lives change for the better. Despite commitments of substantial amounts of foreign aid, southern Sudan’s needs are profound. The area lacks roads and even basic infrastructure. Diseases wiped out in most other parts of the world continue to thrive there, like guinea worm and river blindness…

There are many comparisons around Africa to illustrate the challenges Mr. Garang and Mr. Bashir will face. Somalia’s foes-turned-colleagues have come to blows and remain on the verge of war despite broad-based government. In Congo, leaders who were at war with each other remain wary, even as they sit in the same government in Kinshasa. Burundi’s peace accord between rival Hutu and Tutsi is regarded by some analysts as fragile despite recent elections…

I intend to post something more on Darfur and the Islamist angle there in the next couple of days. The whole Darfur issue is really complex and has to be dealt with separately. Here is a list of other links which can be read without registration or subscription (first two in English):
– The Washington Times, Ex-rebel Welcomed in Khartoum
– Reuters, Former rebel leader sworn in as Sudanese vice president
– Le Monde, John Garang, ancien chef rebelle sudiste, devient premier vice-president du Soudan
– La Libre, Le Sudiste Garang fait vice-president
– Al-Hayat, The Sudan: Installation of Garang and Taha and a Commitment to Solve the Darfur Problem

Contributed by Kirk H. Sowell of Windown on the Arab World, and More!