Representatives of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) held successive rounds of talks with opposition political parties on the second day of their first visit to Khartoum in two decades of civil war, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

They met the Union of Sudanese African Parties in the presence of former vice President Abel Alier, before talking to leaders of the Popular Congress Party (PCP).

The SPLA delegation, led by Pagan Amum, then crossed the Nile to Omdurman where they met Umma Party chief Sadek al-Mahdi and were due later at talks with the Democratic Unionist Party.

Both the SPLA and PCP agreed there could be no lasting peace without democratization, fair distribution of resources and real power, said PCP official Beshir Adam Rahmah.

Rahmah told AFP they discussed mutual cooperation and were "both concerned with impoverished people in marginal outlying regions in west, east and south Sudan."

For his part, al-Mahdi told reporters that the SPLA had "reassured" him about the outcome of current negotiations between it and the government.

The former Prime Minister has previously expressed fears that the negotiating parties would agree on establishing "a dual totalitarianism".

"The delegation declared at the meeting that the final agreement will include all factions of the Sudanese people," said Mahdi after his meeting with the visiting SPLA delegation.

Meanwhile, Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha and southern rebel leader John Garang arrived in Naivasha in Kenya Saturday, amid heightened expectations that a final peace agreement for Sudan could be reached by the year-end.

Washington Friday increased pressure on Khartoum and the SPLA to reach a final peace agreement before the end of December, pledging to assist the country and review its status as a sponsor of terrorism.

"I am optimistic that they will do it in time before the end of the year," senior U.S. government official told journalists in Nairobi.

"They could finish this agreement in terms of a global agreement by the end of this session, which ends on December 19, and in January literally wrap up the details and the technical matters," he said.

Earlier rounds of talks have made progress, notably transitional security arrangements clinched in September and the right for the south to hold a referendum after six years of self-rule, agreed on in July 2002.

"What we have done in the previous rounds have been the way to the final settlement," Taha told reporters on arrival at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

"I hope that we will have the will and determination to finally settle this issue of Sudan," Taha said.

An official from the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) mediators told AFP Saturday that a final accord could be reached in this session, which is scheduled to end on December 19.

SPLA delegates also expressed optimism, saying: "We hope to agree in this session."

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has attended the last round on talks late October.

SPLA rebels have been battling the government in Khartoum since 1983 to end what they see as the north's domination of the south.