Amid singing and whoops of joy, Sudan's government and southern rebels signed the final chapters of a peace deal on Friday, paving the way for a comprehensive accord ending Africa's longest-running civil war. Middle-ranking officials of the government and rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) signed the last two of eight peace protocols that together make up an overall accord ending 21 years of war in the oil-producing south, witnesses said.

"In signing these two protocols the parties have succeeded in meeting their own deadline," chief mediator Lazarus Sumbeiywo told a signing ceremony, referring to promises both sides made to the UN Security Council to agree a deal by the end of 2004.

In January both principal negotiators - Garang and Sudanese First Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha - are expected to hold a ceremony where for the first time they will sign the eight deals agreed by junior colleagues in two years of talks.

"The two parties did not shy away from making the decisions necessary to bring peace," Sumbeiywo, a Kenyan, told a ceremony attended by Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, South African President Thabo Mbeki and SPLM leader John Garang.

The accords do not cover a separate conflict in the western Darfur area of Africa's largest country, where more than a year of fighting has created what the United Nations says is one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Copyright Reuters, 2005