Al-Bashir: the people's liberation army will be the main partner in the next government
Sudan, Politics, 6/30/2003

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al- Bashir has called the rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) to be the main partners in the next Sudanese government.

Al-Bashir told the state owned al-Anbaa daily that the "liberation movement will be a partner for the next government," a reference to the SPLA. Al-Bashir called for "getting over the bitterness of the war with the rebels and to comprehend the coming changes of the peace phase in which the movement is a basic partner in the government."

He concluded " we have to forget the bitterness and accept that John Garang (the leader of the SPLA) will come to talk and address people from this hall very soon."

On the other hand, the Sudanese daily "al-Rai al-Am" quoted al- Bashir as saying that a peace agreement will be only the first step towards preserving the unity of the country, adding it continues to be important to win the conservatives in the South in order to avoid cessation. He continued "it is easy to sign a peace agreement, but difficult to convince the people of the south who were brought up in war and exposed to negative campaigning, to vote for unity."

Al-Bashir said that having elections in the entire country might help to convince all the Sudanese that they have one voice. He added before a crowd in Khartoum on Saturday that the general elections will be held in the first year after signing the peace agreement to permit people to have their own views expressed in running the affairs of the country.

Meantime, the Sudanese authorities confiscated Saturday's issue of the independent Sudanese daily "al-Sahafa" giving no justifications for this measure. The official in the paper, al-Haj Warraq, said that "all copies of the paper, almost 20,000 were confiscated from the printing house after midnight by the security men who gave no justifications to that." Worthy mentioning that "al-Sahafa" is a daily emerged from the merging of three independent dailies " al-Sahafa," "al-Sahafi al-Dawli" and "al-Hurriyah."

Previous Stories:
  Khartoum, the rebels extends ceasefire   (6/25/2003)
  Al-Anbaa: Truce extended between Khartoum and the rebels   (6/23/2003)
  Khartoum releases opposition members   (6/20/2003)

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