Southern Sudan political groups in Kenya to prepare reconciliation talks

NAIROBI, March 17 (AFP) — Representatives from southern Sudan’s former rebel army, its political wing and pro-Khartoum militias are meeting in Kenya this week to prepare for a conference on national reconciliation, officials said on Thursday.

A supporter of the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement, holding an SPLM flag celebrates Sunday, Jan. 9, 2005, at Nyayo Stadium, Nairobi.(AP).

The meeting has drawn representatives from militias that supported the Sudanese goverment before a January peace deal as well as those allied with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), an SPLM official said.

“The technical commitee, made of officials from all groups, is discussing way forward for the region as well as preparing for a major south-south dialogue, a sort of reconciation conference,” the official told AFP.

Another SPLM official said the meeting, being held in the upscale Nairobi suburb of Karen, would set a date for the reconciliation conference which is to be convened by former Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi, who championed the peace process.

Although this week’s talks come more than two months after Khartoum and SPLM/A signed the peace deal in Kenya, several former belligerents boycotted the pre-conference meetings.

The South Sudan Defense Force, the biggest militia based in the south, was not believed to be represented at the talks, having vowed to boycott the meeting due what it said was the poor leadership of SPLM leader John Garang.

It was not immediately clear when the discussions would end.

The January peace deal for southern Sudan ended 21 years of fighting in south Sudan that had claimed at least 1.5 million lives and displaced four million people.