Rebel leader holds rally to explain south Sudan peace

RUMBEK, Sudan, June 11 (AFP) — Sudan’s main rebel leader, John Garang, was due to hold a rally here on Friday to explain a series of accords his movement has signed with the government to end more than two decades of devastating war.

Thousands of people welcomed the leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army on his arrival late Thursday in Rumbek, one of the main towns in the south of the divided country.

“What is the difference between peace and war? I only know war” read a banner held high by one girl in the crowd.

Last Saturday, Garang and Khartoum recommitted themselves to a series of peace protocols agreed over the previous two years.

They cover issues such as power- and wealth-sharing and the establishment of a six-year interim period of autonomy for south Sudan.

The two parties must still negotiate a definitive ceasefire and a timetable for the setting up of new political institutions in which the SPLA will participate.

Since the start of the war in 1983, some 1.5 million people have been killed and development brought to a standstill.

The war essentially pitted Islamic, Arabised governments in Khartoum against a South where traditional religions and Christianity are practised, with natural resources such as oil fuelling the conflict.

“SPLA, the father of the new generation, focus on education of boys and girls for a better future” read a placard held by another boy in the crowd here.

On the road leading from the airport to the town about five kilometres (three miles) away, thousands of local residents danced and sang as Garang passed by.

Three cows were sacrificed in his honour to welcome the rebel leader to the town still in ruins after being taken by the SPLA in 1997 and having come under bombardment by government army forces until 2001.