Sudan rebels meet to plan post-conflict reconstruction: officials

NAIROBI, Nov 29 (AFP) — Political and military leaders of Sudan’s main rebel group met Monday in southern Sudan to plan the post-conflict reconstruction and administration of their vast region, fractured by 21 years of civil war, officials said.

SPLM/A spokesman Yasser Arman.

Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) spokesman Yasser Arman told AFP that rebel leader John Garang and more than 100 field commanders started meeting late Sunday in Rumbek, about 900 kilometres (560 miles) south of Khartoum, to plan for post-conflict reconstruction and promotion of democracy in southern Sudan.

Others issues on the agenda are strengthening the movement in readiness for new challenges after a peace agreement is signed, he added.

Both Khartoum and the SPLM/A pledged in writing on November 19, when the UN Security Council held an extraordinary meeting in Nairobi, to wrap up two years of intense negotiations with a comprehensive peace accord by the end of 2004.

One senior SPLM/A delegate, who did not want to be named, told AFP that the Rumbek meeting, which is due to close on December 1, will also address growing divisions in the movement.

“There has been a growing dissent from the Kiir team,” one rebel official, who declined to be named, said in reference to SPLM/A deputy leader Salva Kiir.

“It appears they are not happy with the way Garang is pursuing the peace talks and, of course, the Garang team is fighting back,” the official added.

“Apart from addressing divisions in the movement, there will be some planning ahead of the peace deal,” the official added.

But Arman dismissed the claims, saying the SPLM/A was still a united movement.

“There are no teams in the SPLM/A between the different leaders, it is mere lies,” Arman told AFP by telephone.

“The SPLM/A is a united organisation. All this disinformation, allegations and campaign is waged against the SPLM/A by the (Khartoum) government and some politicians who think they have been left out in the peace process,” he added.

Arman explained that the meeting in Rumbek is a sign the rebel movement “is up to the challenge of democratic transformation and finalising the peace process in a united movement.”

The rebel spokesman added that all SPLM/A delegates will be present in Naivasha on Wednesday.

Last week, delegates resumed a final round of peace talks in the Kenyan northwestern town of Naivasha to discuss a ceasefire and details on how to implement the peace deal. Sudan’s Vice President Ali Osman Taha and Garang are due to join the talks on December 6.

Together with diseases and famine, the conflict in southern Sudan, which broke out in 1983, has claimed at least 1.5 million lives and displaced more than four million people.

In a separate conflict in western Sudan’s Darfur region, tens of thousands of people have died and 1.5 million others been displaced by 21 months of fighting between Khartoum and two rebel groups demanding an equal share of the vast country’s wealth.