Sudan, eastern rebels sign peace deal

The Sudanese government and eastern rebels signed a peace agreement in the Eritrean capital of Asmara on Saturday, Sudanese state radio reported.

During the signing ceremony which began at 5:30 (1430 GMT), Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said in a speech before the deal was signed that his government will abide by the agreement,

Al-Bashir described the peace deal as an example of "Africans solving an African problem without foreign help," repeating his rejection of a United Nations proposal to deploy international peacekeeping troops to the western Sudanese region of Darfur.

The chief of the Eastern Front Mussa Mohammed Ahmed, for his part, said the peace agreement was historic and it would definitively end the conflict.

The Eastern Front, set up last year by the region's largest ethnic group, the Beja, and the Rashidiya Arabs, aims to gain greater autonomy and take control of resources.

The deal is the third such one signed between Khartoum and rebel groups in various parts of the country in less than two years.

In May, the Sudanese government signed a peace deal with the main rebel faction in the Nigerian capital of Abuja.

In addition, a peace deal was also signed between Khartoum and southern rebels in January 2005, bringing an end to more than two decades of fighting.

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, Arab League Secretary- General Amr Moussa and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit also attended the Saturday ceremony.

Source: Xinhua