Amid Peace, South Sudan Rebels Open Political Office
KHARTOUM, Jan 29, 2005 (AP) – Sudanese southerners sacrificed a white bull for peace as former rebels opened their first office in Khartoum, coming to the capital to organize as a political party after a peace treaty ended Africa’s longest-running civil war.
Many seemed to see the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement’s office in a former bank building as evidence that Sudan is changing after 21 years of war and war-induced poverty. The agreement the rebels and the government signed earlier this month requires they each make major compromises.
The office inauguration Friday opened with the slaughter of a white bull, considered an offering to peace among southerners, on the sidewalk outside.
“This white bull is a sign of peace and victory. This is to mark the day of a real, new Sudan ,” said Agok Makur, a young southerner working as a street vendor in the capital who attended Friday’s ceremony.
Ramadan Abdalla, the head of the office, said the days of fighting were over.
“We have thus closed a page and opened a new page, a page of talk and dialogue among all Sudanese people for a new Sudan ,” he told a crowd of well-wishers.
He said the new office would be used to organize as a political party and prepare for the arrival of national leaders.
The north-south war pitted Islamic-dominated Khartoum against rebels seeking greater autonomy and a greater share of the country’s wealth for the Christian and animist south. The conflict is blamed for more than 2 million deaths, primarily from war-induced famine and disease.
No one from the government showed up at Friday’s ceremony.
Leaders of other political parties did come, as did scores of southern Sudanese who just seemed to want to glimpse the office. Some posed for photos with Sudan People’s Liberation Movement officials.
Paul Thomas, one of the officials, said people in the capital, including thousands of refugees from the fighting in the south, had only heard about his movement before.
“Now they are seeing it physically here among them,” Thomas said.
The road outside was festooned with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement’s green, black, red, white and blue flag with a golden star in the center. Police had to close the road to traffic to accommodate well-wishers.
“Long live democracy, long live freedom,” the crowds shouted.