WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States said on Thursday that it is optimistic about concluding a comprehensive peace agreement between the Khartoum government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).

    "We would certainly welcome that as a tremendous and a historicachievement," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters when he was asked to make comment about the signing ceremony scheduled for Dec. 31.

    The Sudanese government and the SPLA have been in negotiation for two years, aimed at ending their 21-year civil war. The two sides have also agreed to share power and oil resources.

    The Sudan war erupted in 1983 when the southern rebels rose up against Khartoum. The civil war has killed at least 1.5 million people and displaced 4 million others in the former British colonythat got its independence in 1956.

    At Thursday's news briefing, Boucher also noted that "it is very important to proceed with the north-south agreement and not to forget about Darfur, but rather to use that to contribute further to resolving the terrible problems faced by the people in Darfur."

    Fighting broke out in Sudan's western Darfur in February 2003 when two non-Arab African groups began a rebellion. The Sudanese government responded by backing Arab militias.

    More than 70,000 people were reportedly killed in the violence or have died from hunger and disease in the area.

    The United States accused the Arab militias of Sudan of having committed genocide. The United Nations has described violence in Sudan's western Darfur region as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Enditem