Charles Snyder, acting assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said Kenyan-hosted negotiations between Khartoum and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army/Movement (SPLM) had progressed to the point where a "global agreement" might be struck before December 25.
"There is a real drive to finish this and hope to certainly wrap this up by the end of the year and maybe even before Christmas," Snyder told reporters at the State Department.
He said some specifics -- notably a "detail or two" on a ceasefire and a "dollar or two" in terms of a wealth-sharing deal -- might have to be left for experts to conclude in January, but that "the essence of the deal could easily be done provided they don't surprise us with some new agenda item." At the same time, Snyder played down a Sudanese report that US President George W. Bush had invited Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir and SPLA/M leader John Garang to Washington to sign the expected agreement at the White House.
Sudan's SUNA news agency reported on Monday that Bush had made the invitation to Beshir in a telephone call.
But the White House, which said Bush had also telephoned Garang, made no mention of such an offer and said merely that the president had urged the two men to resolve their final differences and forge an agreement.
And, Snyder said it was much more likely that the deal would be signed in Kenya in recognition of Nairobi's mediation work in trying to end the more than 20-year conflict, the world's longest running civil war.
"We'd love to get them to the United States for a photo op, but I think the glory may very well wind up being a Nairobi signing ceremony or something and then in some way we would follow up," Snyder said.
"But we're to the point where we're talking about those kind of things and so if I was a betting man this is not a bad bet -- before Christmas -- to double down on my Christmas bonus," he said.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who secured the two sides' commitment to the December 31 deadline during a visit to the negotiating site outside of Nairobi in October, said on Tuesday he remained confident an accord could be reached by year's end.
Since the conflict erupted in 1983, more than 1.5 million people have died in Sudan's multi-faceted civil war, which pits Khartoum's hardline Islamic regime in the north against southern SPLA/M rebels and other armed opposition groups.
Beshir was quoted earlier Wednesday as saying that officials from his ruling party would travel to the SPLA/M stronghold of Rumbek in southern Sudan to return last week's historic goodwill visit to Khartoum by a rebel delegation.
Beshir was also quoted as saying peace "is coming on schedule." - Sapa-AFP
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