First batch of government troops freed by Sudan rebels arrive in Khartoum

KHARTOUM, March 26 (AFP) — A first batch of Sudanese government soldiers formerly held as prisoners of war by the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement arrived in Khartoum Saturday amid shouts of joy, witnesses said.

Ahmed Gamil Al-A’aje Ahmed Rajab, right, a teacher and popular defence member, is received by a member of his family when he arrived in Khartoum, Sudan, Saturday, March 26, 2005. Gamil arrived with 76 others as the first group of prisoners of war, who were held by SPLM (Sudan People’s Liberation Movement), arrived in Khartoum. (AP).

A crowd that included relatives, friends and colleagues of the former POWs was at the airport to greet them and express delight at being reunited with their loved ones after years of separation.

Soldiers carried banners welcoming home their comrades, as anxious relatives screened the returning soldiers to see if their sons or brothers were among them.

Senior military officers led by Major General Mohamed al-Khanjer al-Tayeb were also on hand to greet the soldiers, some of whom had been held captive since 1990 and arrived in ragged clothes.

The SPLM freed the prisoners under an arrangement that followed the signing in January of a peace deal with the government, ending more than two decades of civil war between north and south.

They were released “on a direct agreement between the ministry of defense and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement without any intermediary,” Tayeb said during a brief ceremony at the airport.

Tayeb said the SPLM had held most of the POWs in Yei, a town close to the border with Uganda that saw some of the fiercest fighting of the war, which cost an estimated two million lives.

He added that the release brought to 160 the number of government soldiers the SPLM has released so far, saying he expected the other freed POWs to arrive over the next few days.

The SPLM had handed the men over in small groups at various locations in the country and this was the first group flown to Khartoum for a formal welcoming ceremony and reunification with family members.