Sudan’s rebel leader arrives in rebel headquarters after peace deal

RUMBEK, Sudan, Jan 22, 2005 (AP) — Sudan’s main rebel leader arrived in this remote rebel headquarters Saturday, for the first time since signing a comprehensive peace deal two weeks ago in neighboring Kenya to end 21 years of conflict in southern Sudan .

SPLAM/A Leader John Garang listen to national anthem in Rumbek on Wednesday June 8, 2004. (AP).

John Garang, leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, was set to chair a meeting of the rebel’s legislative body, the National Liberation Council, which is expected to endorse a Jan. 9 peace deal with Sudan ‘s government.

Monday is the deadline set in the agreement for both sides to have their respective legislatures approve the deal.

Garang’s stepped over a white cow that had been slaughtered on the tarmac as he got off the plane. A white cow is considered a peace offering among Garang’s Dinka tribe in southern Sudan .

He was received at the airport by the U.N. chief envoy, Jan Pronk, and a deputy leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, Salva Kiir.

Garang then inspected a guard of honor by SPLA fighters as hundreds of residents who had gathered at the dusty airstrip tried to catch a glimpse of him and his wife.

Some of them clung precariously to tree branches while others clambered on top of the fuselage of an aircraft that crashed here three years ago.

“It feels great after a peace agreement – honorable and dignified – you can see the people are very happy,” Garang said, referring to traditional dancers and residents singing and dancing at the airstrip.

“Our first task is to ratify the agreement. That’s why we have come to Rumbek for the National Liberation Council to ratify the peace agreement. The same thing will be done in Khartoum (the seat of Sudan ‘s government),” he said.

The chief mediator of the more than two year of talks in neighboring Kenya, Lazaro Sumbeiywo, “will come tomorrow to formally hand to us the official copy of the peace agreement. The National Liberation Council will set about the task of ratifying it, hopefully on time,” Garang said.

The agreement Garang signed with Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha is aimed at ending Sudan ‘s two-decade war in southern Sudan during which 2 million people died, primarily from war-induced famine and disease.

Since Sudan got independence in 1956 from the U.K. and Egypt, Arab Muslims who dominate the north have led the government, which has fought the rebels who want greater autonomy and a greater share of the country’s wealth in the mainly black animist and Christian south.

Before Garang’s arrival, a senior rebel commander said Saturday that his fellow commanders objected strongly to reports that Jordan and Egypt have offered to contribute troops to a U.N. peacekeeping mission because the two countries supported the Sudanese government during the southern conflict.

Garang is set to meet Pronk to discuss the proposed peacekeeping mission.

Pieng Deng, a senior commander of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, did not explain what kind of support the two countries gave the government. Egypt co-ruled Sudan with Britain from 1899 to 1956 when Africa’s largest country got its independence.

“The U.N. has failed to show sensitivity to the realities of Sudan , where this civil war started because Khartoum wanted to Arabize and Islamize the south,” said Deng, who commands SPLA forces in the large southwestern Bahr-e-Ghazal region.

“What we are saying is that we do not want Arabs and Muslims to make up 50% of the force,” said Deng. He qualified his statement, however, saying the rebels did not object to troops from Muslim countries such as Bangladesh.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Sudan already has a force commander, Lt. Gen. Fazle Akbar of Bangladesh, but its composition will be clear only when the U.N. Security Council passes a resolution to give it a mandate.

The SPLA is the main rebel group in southern Sudan , but there are other smaller groups not covered by the Jan. 9 deal, such as the Equatoria Defense Forces in southwestern Sudan . Garang has promised to begin talks with other southern rebels to make sure all southerners are involved in the peace process.