Rebel leader Garang to visit France next Saturday

BBC Monitoring Middle East

By Al-Ra’y al-Amm daily newspaper

NAIROBI, 15, 2003 — The official spokesman of the [rebel] Sudan People’s Liberation Movement [SPLM], Yasir Arman, said the SPLM leader, Dr John Garang, will visit France next Saturday [22 November] in response to an official invitation offered to him by the France foreign minister.

Mr Arman told Al-Ra’y al-Amm, that the visit comes in the context of SPLM’s campaign in the African, Arab and Western domain, ahead of its resumption in the next round of peace negotiations towards the end of this month.

In this respect, Mr Arman said the capital city which is demanded by the SPLM is not one which is devoid of ethics and morality, but one is similar to the big Islamic cities such as Cairo, Kuala Lumpur, or Riyadh, which support multi-religious practices.