Sudanese rebels call on Bush to pressure Khartoum

KHARTOUM, Oct. 25, 2003 (dpa) — The leader of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) on Friday urged U.S. President George W. Bush to pressure Sudan’s government to consider self determination for three disputed areas that are at the centre of a decades-long civil war.

Peace talks between the government and the rebels focus on the areas of Abyei, Southern Blue Nile and the Nuba Mountains. The Islamic government of President Omer Hassan Al Bashir is demanding that the three areas remain part of the Arab north, whereas the SPLA wants them to be annexed and administered by the Christian and Animist south.

In a telephone conversation from Naivasha, the site of current peace talks, SPLA’s security boss, Edward Lino, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, that the rebel group is willing to let the three regions decide for themselves and called on the government to do the same.

Lino said the talks also focus on how to distribute wealth in the eastern African country, as well as the disputed areas.

Lino ruled out that the SPLA will sign a peace deal that would not allow for self-determination for these regions.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday that Sudan’s government and the SPLA were committed to signing a comprehensive peace deal by the end of the year.

The civil war in Sudan, the longest in Africa, has claimed more than 2 million lives over the past 20 years.