HIGHLIGHTS: Leaders to Avoid Sticking Points & Focus on Consolidating Recent Kenya Protocol||Sudan Ceasefire Expected in Weeks||Sticking Points Include Power-sharing & Dividing Oil Riches|| STORY: President Omar al-Beshir of Sudan will hold his first meeting with rebel leader John Garang, who has been fighting Khartoum regimes since 1983, Saturday in Kampala, a Sudanese diplomat said.(Read photo caption)

The meeting will come swiftly on the heels of significant progress announced a week ago in Kenya after talks aimed at ending one of Africa's longest civil wars.

The Kenya Protocol gives southern Sudan a six-year period during which it will enjoy administrative autonomy and not be subject to the Islamic law applied in the north. At the end of the six years, its people will be asked to vote on whether they want to stay part of the country, or secede.

The deal also comes less than a year after Washington became actively involved in efforts to end the civil war.

During their talks, Beshir and Garang will avoid the sticking points in their negotiations and only discuss "ways of consolidating the protocol accord concluded on July 20 at Machakos," an SPLA statement said.

However, the SPLA added that the "participation of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the peace process" will figure high on the meeting's agenda, referring to the umbrella grouping that includes the SPLA and other opposition factions from both the north and the south.

SUDAN CEASEFIE EXPECTED IN WEEKS

Sudan's Vice President, Ali Uthman Muhammad Taha, says he expects a ceasefire with the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) to take place within weeks.

Since the announcement of the peace accord, the Sudanese Government has been on a charm offensive - sending its emissaries round the world to urge its friends to support and invest in the new, peaceful Sudan.

"It should be a matter of weeks, if people are serious," Mr Taha said.

DIVIDING OIL RICHES

Issues still to be tackled include the practicalities of power-sharing during the next six years.

It is still unclear how the country's oil wealth - largely derived from the south - will be divided.

The actual ceasefire will not take effect until the end of the process.

But the vice president said he believed that everything else could be quickly settled, now that agreement had been reached on the issue of religion.

At the end of six years the agreement provides for a referendum on whether the south should remain part of Sudan or become independent.

PHOTO CAPTION

(L) Sudanese President, Omar Albashir. (Top R) Rebel Leader, John Garang; (Bottom R) 2 million people were killed in 19 years of civil war.