Sudan peace 'agreed'

The Sudanese government and the main southern rebel group, Sudan People’s Liberation Army, will sign a peace agreement on January 10 in Kenya to end more than 20 years of civil war, a senior government official said today.

Sudan’s north-south civil war erupted in 1983 when rebels from the mostly animist and Christian south took up arms against the predominantly Muslim, Arab north. More than 2 million people have died in Africa’s longest-running conflict, mainly through war-induced famine. The warring parties began peace talks in July 2002.

The government is also trying to settle a separate conflict in western Darfur region.