Sudan approves draft interim constitution, Garang is Sudan's vice president
Sudan, Politics, 7/7/2005

A new shift of prisoners of the government forces returned back on Wednesday evening to the capital Khartoum after they were released by the rebels of south Sudan, in implementation of an agreement signed between the two sides on January this year.

Reports said the number of released gunmen tolled 72, noting that they represent the first shift of 300 gunmen expected to be released shortly.

This coincided with a series of preliminary measures taken to include the rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA/SPLM) in the government as from Saturday, at which time the former leader of the rebels John Garang will arrive to take constitutional oath as Vice President of Sudan.

On Wednesday, the Sudanese parliament approved by a great majority the interim draft constitution in what was described as the beginning of a new phase.

On the other hand, news reports on Rebda area on the Sudanese- Eritrean borders said that the first shift of the SPLA are preparing to leave for Khartoum.

This falls in the course of implementing the peace agreement which states that 1500 members of these forces will take part with a similar number of the government forces to form a joint force representing the two sides.

This step, is considered the first step to implementing the Nivasha agreement which was finalized in January, providing for the formation of the interim administration for South Sudan which will come up with the southern states coordination council, presided by Reyak Qai, the deputy secretary general of the ruling party.

Previous Stories:
  Peace negotiations to resume in Sudan on August 24th   (7/6/2005)
  Agreement of principle between government, Darfur rebels   (7/6/2005)
  A constitution for Iraq   (7/2/2005)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search