War in southern Sudan practically ended two years ago: rebel’s envoy

WASHINGTON, Nov 12, 2004 (Sudan Radio Service) — The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) representative to North America and the United Nations, Stephen Wondu, says war in southern Sudan practically ended two years ago.

Repel from SPLA embarking on a car with a machine gun. (AFP/file).

Wondu told students at George Mason university in the State of Virginia in the US that there has not been any major military confrontation between government forces and the SPLM army for the last 2 years.

The SPLM envoy who was speaking about the prospects of peace in sudan said the civil population has embraced relative peace in the country. He said many IDPs and refugees are returning home to resume normal life.

He told — the Nairobi based — Sudan Radio Service that he hopes that the Security Council meeting in Nairobi on 18 – 19 November will give greater impetus and exert greater pressure on the parties to the Naivasha peace talks to conclude the process.

He says the council will ask the parties to provide them with a time frame within which the talks will be concluded.

Material from the BBC Monitoring Service