Sudan offers southern allies choice of army

KHARTOUM, Jan 5 (Reuters) – Sudan’s defence minister on Wednesday offered his southern forces a choice between staying with the northern army or joining a new southern army, after a peace deal ending 21 years of civil war in the south.

The rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and the government signed a permanent ceasefire in Africa’s longest civil war on Dec. 31. They are due to sign the formal peace agreement on Jan. 9 in Kenya.

Defence Minister Bakri Hassan Saleh gave 369 officers from a variety of southern tribes the chance to join the army of the south, which will be made up of SPLA forces.

“There will be some changes in the coming days because of the peace process,” he told the cheering officers. “You will have the opportunity to stay with us or go with the southern forces.”

But he added: “We will be one rank, the government forces and the armed movement (SPLA).”

The southern conflict began in 1983 and broadly pitted the mainly Christian, animist and pagan south against the Islamist regime based in Khartoum. The conflict was complicated by issues of oil, ethnicity and ideology.

The army says it has about 40,000 southern troops under the 369 commanders.

Men and women wearing leopard skins and wielding spears and shields danced to traditional southern music in a rare show in Khartoum, where Islamic sharia law is imposed that bans mixed dancing.

Many northern and southern army officers joined in the dance in an impromptu extravaganza with Saleh also standing and cheering on the performers.

Each officer will decide which army to join during talks after the deal is signed. The troops under his command will go with him.

The SPLA alienated many southerners during the civil war, who accused them of attacking civilian populations, stealing humanitarian aid or favouring some tribes over others.

The war has claimed around 2 million lives and displaced more than 4 million civilians.