Gov't expects swift conclusion to eastern peace talks

Peace talks aimed at ending a simmering civil conflict in eastern Sudan are not expected to become a drawn-out process, Sudanese authorities said. "We went through two difficult talks [on the north-south civil war and the conflict in Darfur], so a lot of experience was gained," Sudan's state minister for foreign affairs, Al Wasilla El-Samani, told reporters in Nairobi on Wednesday. "I think the eastern problem is much, much easier than those two." Negotiations between the government of Sudan and the rebel Eastern Front (EF) began in Asmara, Eritrea, on Tuesday evening, following a successful two-day meeting between Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki and his Sudanese counterpart, Umar al-Bashir, in Khartoum. The eastern rebels accuse the Sudanese government of marginalising the remote regions of the country and demand greater autonomy. The EF - an alliance between two rebel movements, the Beja Congress and a smaller insurgency, the Rashaida Free Lions - has been active in the poor region near the Eritrean border, but fighting is sporadic and on a small scale. El-Samani expected that wealth-sharing issues would not be a big stumbling block in the peace talks, as the three eastern states had already been receiving their share of national wealth for the last 17 months, as stipulated under the north-south Comprehensive Peace Agreement. "Mainly, the talks will concentrate on the power-sharing and on the security arrangements for the fighting groups; that is to say, the integration of the fighting groups into the national army and the police, security and that sort of thing," he said. "We think that the talks will be [over] in a very short time," he said. The Sudanese authorities were eager to complete the talks in order to prepare the country for the upcoming general elections, which were expected to take place in mid-2008. Other rebel groups, such as the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), which is also active in Darfur, have gained importance but been kept outside the negotiations, however. Observers fear their exclusion might derail a potential eastern peace deal. "We do not accept the decision to exclude us from the talks between the Eastern Front and Khartoum," said JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim in Asmara on Tuesday. "Khartoum will not get peace if we don't participate in the talks," he added, warning that JEM’s presence in the east could not be ignored. El-Samani acknowledged JEM’s geographical presence in the east, but stressed they had no role to play at the peace talks. "They have not been invited for the simple reason that they have nothing to do with the Eastern Front talks - by no means - because they are from Darfur," he said. Eastern Sudan is a strategic region that includes Port Sudan - the country's economic lifeline, through which most of its foreign trade passes - the oil pipeline, many irrigated and semi-mechanised agricultural schemes, and a long border with Eritrea, with whom Sudan has had rocky relations for the past 12 years.