SPLA committed to Sudan unity

The leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) said yesterday that the group was committed to peace talks with the Islamist government of Khartoum despite continuing war.

"We are prepared as a matter of principle to talk with the government of the day in Khartoum," John Garang told reporters and the British Broadcasting Corporation in an interview in Cairo.

He also was committed to Sudan's unity. Garang added he was in Cairo to brief Egyptian officials on peace talks which ended this month in Kenya between Sudan's government and rebel groups, and to assure them that the SPLA does not have an anti-Arab or anti-Islamic agenda.

In a related development, Sudan's minister of justice, Abdel Basset Sabdrat, said in press statements to Al Wan paper that Khartoum was ready for Anti-terrorism cooperation with Egypt and committed to the extradition accords signed between the two countries, voicing his country's condemnation of the terrorist attacks in Egypt.