by Lin Zhishen, Liu Li

    NAIROBI, Jan. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- No one could be more happy than the Sudanese people on Sunday as the government and southern rebels finally signed the comprehensive peace agreement, which ends the longest-running war in Africa and is hailed by regional and world leaders as a historic achievement.

    Sudanese First Vice President Ali Osman Taha and John Garang, leader of the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), inked the deal, which is expected to usher in peace and stability for conflict-ridden region of southern Sudan.

    A number of foreign dignitaries, regional leaders and Kenyan officials attended the ceremony, which was marked by singing, dancing, and ululating by excited Sudanese.

    Up to 10,000 people, many of whom are Sudanese refugees in Kenya, thronged the Nyayo National Stadium in Kenyan capital Nairobi, where the historic occasion took place. They cheered loudly and waved flags and banners to hail a new dawn for Sudan after decades of fighting.

    In their speeches, both President Omar el Bashir and the SPLM/A chairman John Garang expressed their willingness to work in partnership in ensuring the successful implementation of the signed peace agreement.

    The two Sudanese leaders talked against discrimination on the basis of tribe, race or religion, saying true peace and democracy will thrive in Sudan if the people of Sudan come together as a united nation.

    "We are going to work together to ensure peace prevail in the country and hope that this agreement will be implemented," Bashir said.

    "This is a just and honorable peace agreement. ... This peace agreement will change Sudan forever and Sudan will not be the same again as the spirit of peace will engulf the country and usher in democratic development but not war," Garang said.

    Speaking shortly after the signing process, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki noted that the signing ceremony marked the beginning of a new and brighter future for Sudan.

    "It also signals a new era in Africa where conflicts can be resolved peacefully through dialogue," Kibaki said, urging all Africans to embrace dialogue as the best approach in resolving conflicts in the continent.

    He said the resolution of the Sudan conflict should demonstrate the power of dialogue and expose the futility of war as an instrument in resolving conflicts.

    US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who signed the protocols as one of the key witnesses, commended the regional leaders for facilitating the successful conclusion of the Sudan peace process.

    Pledging the US government's support to the reconstruction of post-conflict Sudan, Powell said the signing of the comprehensive Sudan peace accord has made Sudan an example of reconciliation in the world.

    Powell urged the reconciled parties to work together in ensuring that the agreement is used as a roadmap in ending the violence and atrocities in Darfur.

    "We urge all parties involved to cooperate fully with the African Union towards peace in Darfur. The US government will use all the necessary means to end the violence that has caused a lot of suffering to the people of Sudan," Powell said.

    Thousands of Sudanese, either just arrived in Kenya from Sudan or refugees living here, shouted and waved their national flags to celebrate the moment.

    "We are all very happy today, because the peace deal means no fighting and killing in southern Sudan," said Joseph Aleep, a Sudanese refugee in Kenya, adding that all of his friends in the refugee camps are willing to go back to Sudan if peace is guaranteed there.

    Many of the Sudanese in the stadium kept singing or dancing to the traditional African music, and some of them holding the slogans, reading "Peace Agreement is Step Toward Progress," "Today, the Glorious Day for Africa," "We are brothers, and Sudan is our country," among others.

    On one of the slogans, it reads "We register our appreciation and joy for the birth of comprehensive peace agreement. We wish everybody safe return home."

    Actually, returning home is on nearly every Sudanese refugees' mind. "If there is peace, I'll go back." That's their common answer to the question about whether to return.

    This peace pact covers all the eight peace deals signed previously, including earlier agreed protocols on how to share power and natural wealth, what to do with armed forces during a six-year interim period, how to administer three disputed areas, and the latest on permanent ceasefire and modalities of implementing peace deals.

    Many African heads of state came to witness the historic signing ceremony. Among the present are Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania, Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria.

    Others were the Arab League Secretary General Amre Moussa, UN special representative for Sudan Jan Pronk, European Union representative Charles Goerens and Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar representing chairman of the African Union among others.

    The Sudanese civil war broke out in 1983 when the SPLM/A took up arms fighting for self-determination in the southern part of the country. It is estimated that two decades of conflict have claimed 2 million lives, primarily from war-induced famine and disease, and displaced over 4 million others. Enditem