Nairobi, Kenya, Jan 9, SPA -- Sudan's vice president and thecountry's main rebel leader signed a comprehensive peaceagreement to end Africa's longest-running conflict Sunday,concluding an eight-year process to stop the civil war. In a lavish ceremony in neighboring Kenya _ where thetalks were based _ Sudanese vice president Ali OsmanMohammed Taha and John Garang, chairman of the SudanPeople's Liberation Army, signed the peace agreement. Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Ugandan President YoweriMuseveni signed as witnesses. U.S. Secretary of State ColinPowell, Italy's Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini andNorwegian Development Minister Hilda Johnsonn then signedas witnesses, representing donors who've backed the peacenegotiations. Kenya has hosted the talks since they began in earnest in1997 and Museveni is the current chairman of theIntergovernmental Authority on Development, a regionalgrouping that has mediated the talks. Nine other African leaders attended the ceremony,including Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir and AfricanUnion Chairman and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.Arab League Secretary General Amre Moussa was also present. During the last two years of talks, the adversaries havesigned protocols on how to share power and natural wealth,what to do with their armed forces during a six-yeartransition period and how to administer three disputedareas in central Sudan. They also agreed that after the six-year transition,southerners would vote in a referendum on whether to remainunited with the north, or to become independent. U.N. officials have said the Security Council will reviewthe peace agreement within two weeks, after which thecouncil will adopt a resolution establishing a peacesupport mission for Sudan.--SPA1242 Local Time 0942 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/231062