Sudan's government and southern rebels will agree a permanent ceasefire tomorrow at talks aimed at ending Africa's longest-running civil war, delegates said.
The government and rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), under strong US pressure to end their 21-year-old war by the end of 2004, said the pact would resolve remaining issues but conceded it would not be a formal ceremonial accord.
Such an agreement would not cover a separate war raging in western Darfur region but diplomats believe a north-south deal could be a blueprint for peace there.
"This is considered to be the final pillar for the establishment of peace in Sudan," Sudan state radio monitored by the BBC said. It added without elaborating that the accord would be the "initial" peace agreement.
SPLM spokesman Yassir Arman said: "When we sign tomorrow, we will have a comprehensive peace deal. What remains is the celebration and formalisation which will happen in the Kenyan capital at a later date."
The combatants pledged in November to sign a final peace by the end of the year to end a war in the oil-exporting south that has killed an estimated 2 million people, mainly through famine and disease, and uprooted four million.
Khartoum has already signed six preliminary protocols with the southern rebels that would form a coalition government, decentralise power, share oil revenues and integrate the military. The south in six years can vote for secession.