SPLA/M postpones Khartoum trip

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Mar 16, 2005 (PANA) — Colonel John Garang’s South Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) has postponed indefinitely, a visit to Khartoum by its delegation which had been scheduled for Tuesday, official
sources said here Wednesday.

James Moi, an SPLA/M top official, was quoted by the
State-owned Sudan News Agency (SUNA) as blaming
“organisational matters” for the delayed visit by the
70-member delegation of military, legal and political
officials.

He said a new date would be announced later.

The SPLA/M delegation is to take part in the drafting of a constitution for a six-year transition period, which the movement had agreed with the Khartoum government to end the
conflict in south Sudan.

Under the agreement, signed in January in Kenya, a transitional administration would be in place for six years in Sudan, at the end of which a referendum would be held on the south’s quest for independence from the north.

Both sides agreed that the country’s constitution would be
revised to reflect Sudan’s socio-cultural and religious
diversities during the transition period.