Some 13 persons killed in southern Sudan

The Sudanese daily al-Osbou on Thursday said that some 13 persons were killed in an attack launched on Tuesday against the governor of North Bahr el-Gazelle province in southern Sudan, Kuwak Mekkawi, who was then in Khartoum. Mekkawi told the paper that the persons killed were from his personal guard in addition to one civilian who was at the house which is located in Awel town.

Meanwhile in Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa met with the chairman of the Sudanese Democratic National Coalition, Muhammad Othman al-Merghani, which comprises the parties of the northern opposition and rebels in southern Sudan.

Following the meeting, al-Merghani said he discussed with Moussa the military conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia and the efforts made by the governmental commission for sustainable development and fighting desertification in East Africa and the African horn, IGAD which also supervises peace negotiations to be resumed in August in Addis Ababa to end the civil war in Sudan.

Merghani stated that all the parties in the Democratic National Coalition work to enhance Sudan's unity, denying government statement that the opposition approved the South's self-determination, saying that Sudan's unity is an actual reality.

Merghani also announced on Thursday that a meeting of the Sudanese opposition parties will be held in Cairo at the end of coming month. Merghani denied that there are disputes within the Sudanese opposition, which agrees upon the necessity of firmly confronting the practices of the Sudanese government headed by President Omar El-Bashir and Hassan El-Torabi, the head of Sudanese parliament.