SPLA sympathizes with western Darfur rebellion


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News Article by AFP posted on June 17, 2003 at 15:29:22: EST (-5 GMT)

SPLA sympathizes with western Darfur rebellion

CAIRO, June 17 (AFP) -- Sudan's southern rebel leader rejected a government proposal for a referendum on a future peace settlement and voiced support for a rebellion in the western region of Darfur, in an interview published Tuesday.

Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) leader John Garang, in the interview with the London-based Arab newspaper Al-Hayat, asked: "How can a referendum be held in war zones?

"Eighty percent of the inhabitants of the south are on our side, so how will the government reach them?" Garang asked.

Last week the Sudanese government proposed holding a nationwide referendum on a peace settlement with the SPLA, followed months later by general elections.

Kenyan mediators sponsoring a year of negotiations aimed at ending the 20-year civil war pitting the Islamist government in Khartoum against the SPLA have predicted a peace settlement could be signed as early as August.

The SPLA has been fighting for the rights of animists and Christians in southern and eastern Sudan.

"What is happening in (eastern) Blue Nile state and in the (south-central) Nuba mountains ... is total resistance against Khartoum," Garang was quoted as saying.

Last December the people of these two disputed regions -- whose fate is the focus of negotiations -- gave the SPLA a mandate to negotiate their future.

Meanwhile, Garang was quoted as saying he sympathized with a rebel movement in the western Darfur region, urging the government to negotiate with them.

"The (SPLA) movement feels solidarity with all those marginalized in Sudan and what is happening in Darfour is a rebellion ... against injustice," Garang said, while denying any links between the SPLA and the rebels.

The Sudan Liberation Army/Movement (SLM) has claimed a number of attacks in the Darfur region since it surfaced for the first time in February.

But the government has refused to acknowledge any political motivation for unrest in the states of North, South and West Darfur, blaming it instead on "armed criminal gangs and outlaws", who it says are aided by tribes from neighboring Chad.

Sudanese authorities have also accused the SPLA of helping the "outlaws" in the Darfur region, a charge the SPLA denies.

The SLM is not included in the framework of peace talks aimed at ending Khartoum's civil war with the SPLA.

It has never acknowledged any link with the SPLA, but called in mid-March for an "understanding" with other opposition forces fighting the Khartoum government.