NAIVASHA, Kenya, September 24 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The main rebel group in Sudan and the Khartoum government have reached agreement on security issues that are crucial to a comprehensive accord to end two decades of war, spokesmen for both sides said Wednesday, September 24.

"We have come to an agreement regarding the deployment of forces and the size of the forces, as well as other major issues that were sticking points in the talks," government spokesman Sayed Al-Khatibu told Agence France-Presse (AFP) in the Kenyan town of Naivasha.

"We expect that the agreement on this framework will make the remaining issues of the talks easier," he added.

The agreement comes during ongoing talks here between Sudan's vice president, Ali Osman Taha, and the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), John Garang, notably on how each side's forces will be deployed during a six-year period of self-rule in the south of the vast country.

"There has been a breakthrough on one of the outstanding issues -- that is security and military arrangements," SPLM/A spokesman Samson Kwaje later told AFP.

"We have agreed on substantial withdrawal of the government forces from the south, redeployment of SPLA forces in Khartoum and the formation of equal units of an integrated force in Southern Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains," he added.

"The agreement has been satisfying to the SPLA. The talks will now get momentum. We hope to tackle the remaining issues," Kwaje said.

On Sunday, September 21, both delegations in Kenya agreed to extend their ceasefire by two months beyond its scheduled expiration at the end of September 2003.

Garang then told AFP he expected a comprehensive peace agreement to be signed within two months.

The Sudanese government in Khartoum and the rebels, based in the mainly animist and Christian south, have been fighting a war since 1983 that has become increasingly driven by a stake in Sudan's natural resources, namely oil.

Under an agreement signed in Kenya in July last year, the south will enjoy autonomy from Khartoum during for six years, following which a referendum will be held to determine whether the south will secede or remain part of Sudan.

Commenting on the breakthrough in the Sudanese crisis, Edris Hassan, a Sudanese journalist, said he is optimistic at making impressive strides at the Sudanese peace track and other issues held in abeyance.

"There is no word yet about the agreement vis-à-vis the military arrangements by both sides, but we can take it for granted that an all-inclusive deal has been hammered out," he told IslamOnline.net.

Hassan did not rule out that the U.S. administration had pressed both sides to strike the deal "given that the U.S. is playing a pivotal role in the Sudanese peace process."

For his part, Bashir Al-Bakri, an adviser to Sudanese Foreign Minister Mostafa Ismail Othman, said it is the first time ever that peace negotiations make concrete steps.