The Sudanese government and rebels said yesterday a general amnesty would be included in a peace deal they are now negotiating in Kenya with the aim of ending 20 years of civil war in the south. A spokesman for the rebel Sudan Peoples Liberation Army said it would establish reconciliation committees in the south to deal with war crimes committed in the conflict. âWe have ... agreed that there will be a general amnesty announced on the signing of the peace agreement for the whole of Sudan,â the SPLAâs Samson Kwaje told Reuters in Khartoum, where a rebel delegation is making its first official visit. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Nagheib Al-Kher, who also said the deal would contain a general amnesty, added that people would not be prosecuted retrospectively.
| He means retroactively... |
Kwaje said the amnesty would be similar to one declared in South Africa in 1994, where those seeking amnesty had to disclose their offences but not in public and a truth commission was formed to establish what happened during apartheid. âWe will create a regional truth and reconciliation committee to deal with war crimes so that we as a people can move on,â Kwaje said. Kwaje said the amnesty would be part of a âhealing processâ in Sudan after years of violence and would exempt people from actual judicial proceedings. Sudanâs vice president and the SPLA leader resumed face-to-face talks in Kenya on Sunday amid predictions they will clinch an end to two decades of war before the end of the month. |