Amid thanksgiving hymns and the dancing of warriors, Sudan’s government and southern rebels forged a comprehensive peace on Sunday ending Africa’s longest-running civil war.Sudan’s First Vice-President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha and John Garang of the southern rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement signed the accord in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, ending a 21-year conflict in the south that has killed an estimated two million people mainly through famine and disease.The agreement did not cover a separate conflict in the western Darfur area of Africa’s largest country, where almost two years of fighting have created what the United Nations calls one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.US Secretary of State Colin Powell, attending the signing, urged Khartoum and the SPLM to work together immediately to end atrocities in Darfur, and said Washington would upgrade its ties with Sudan to a ‘‘positive relationship’’ only when that was done.In front of 12 African heads of state and Powell, Garang and Taha put their names to protocols signed by colleagues in two years of talks. The deals together form an overall accord. The pact is expected to trigger the return of more than half a million Sudanese and the gradual resettlement of 4 million displaced internally.Under the agreement, the ruling National Congress party and the SPLM will form an interim coalition government, decentralise power, share oil revenues and integrate the military. At the end of a six-year interim period, the south can vote for secession. Garang will become a vice president under President Omar Hassan el-Bashir.
