Tension prevails in south Sudan
Sudan, Politics, 7/21/1998

Khartoum government has proposed an extension of the cease-fire to three-months instead of one month.

The cease-fire was announced last Wednesday between the Sudanese army and the rebels in southern Sudan. The proposal was submitted by Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Abdul Rahman al-Numeiri during his meeting on Sunday with the IGAD delegation in charge of mediating between the Sudanese government and the rebels. IGAD's delegation, led by the envoy of the Kenyan president, arrived on Saturday in Khartoum in a five-day visit to Khartoum during which he met with Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Othman Ismael.

The Sudanese minister stressed the need to convene the forthcoming session of peace negotiations to be held in August in Addis Ababa between the Sudanese government and the rebels in the south on the set date.

More than 25 Sudanese farmers were killed and another 200 were wounded by land mines implanted in Kasla province on the borders with Eritrea. Sudanese dailies published on Sunday quoted the chairman of the Peasants Union in Kasla, Ahmad al-Ati, as saying that horror prevailed among peasants circles due to the mines implanted by the Sudanese opposition in ten farms in the area. He added that the agricultural season for this year is vulnerable because most of the farmers have fears to go to their fields.

Meanwhile, the chairman of Blue Nile province, Abdul Menem al-Qadi, stressed that several Sudanese opposition fighters had during the two past days left several border villages in the province fleeing to Ethiopia. In a statement to reporters on Sunday, al-Qadi added the opposition camps in Metra and Baghouro and other villages in the province have been deserted due to the hardships the opposition faced.

Previous Stories:
  Sudanese criticisms against Britain   (7/17/1998)
  Government approves cease fire today, Sudanese rebels agree   (7/16/1998)
  Garang's movement approves cease-fire proposal   (7/9/1998)

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