Benjamin,
Funny I would argue exactly the opposite- religion has been the most significant taming factor in history on man's baser instincts- such as greed and worshipping idols such as guilded calves. In fact Benjamin- are you still worshipping the chimera of a guilded calf wafting in the mirages of a hot summer afternoon in the southern Sudan? Another report follows....
Sincerely,
Doug F.
FOCUS-Sudan rebels blame government on peace talks
01:02 p.m Nov 11, 1997 Eastern
By Matthew Bigg
NAIROBI, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Sudan rebels on Tuesday blamed government intransigence for the failure of peace talks to find a solution to the country's 14-year civil war.
There would be ''no ceasefire'' in advance of the next round of talks due to start in April, Salva Kiir, the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) delegation to the talks told a news conference.
Almost two weeks of peace talks between the Khartoum government and the political wing of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) broke up in the Kenyan capital on Tuesday without agreement.
Mediator Kalonzo Musyoka, Kenya's foreign minister, said the talks would resume in April.
In a detailed statement giving its verdict on the talks, the SPLM said the Sudan government was unprepared for negotiations and had proposed an unacceptable solution to the disputed question of whether Sharia law should be imposed throughout Sudan. Islamic Sharia law was first imposed on Sudan in 1983.
''These talks like earlier ones failed to produce the desired result,'' the statement said.
The Sudanese embassy earlier cancelled a press conference at which the government delegation led by Foreign Minister Ali Osman Mohammad Taha was to have given its position on the talks.
One Sudanese official dismissed the SPLM's argument as ''pure propaganda'' and said Khartoum was adhering to a prohibition on public statements by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a seven-nation group under Kenya which organised the talks.
The SPLM said Khartoum's acceptance of self-determination -- the principle on which the talks were founded -- was disingenuous.
During the closed door talks ''the head of the government delegation said 'self-determination was not a right,''' Kiir said.
''I cannot really say that the talks have failed, but the reason why we did not reach a final step...is the government of Sudan trying to impose Sharia when there are so many other groups,'' Kiir said.
The SPLA presented a seven-point paper to the talks last week proposing a referendum on self-determination for south Sudan after two years, with a confederation between north and south in the interim period.
Abeyei, Southern Kordofan and Southern Blue Nile states merited the right to self-determination even though they fell outside the traditional boundaries of the south, the SPLM said.
In a nine-point document Khartoum accepted the principle of self-determination as a means of ending the war, but proposed last week a north-south federation in place of confederation.
Kiir rejected a claim made in a private Khartoum newspaper on Monday that government troops working with the South Sudan Defence force killed 230 SPLA troops and captured weapons and ammunition in a counter-attack near the town of Torit 135 km (84 miles) south east of Juba.
The SPLA threatens the southern capital Juba after an offensive in March, while the rebel National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has closed on the Roseires Dam in east Sudan.
Some 1.3 million people have been killed in the war between the Khartoum government and the SPLA which began in 1983.
-- Nairobi Newsroom ++ 254 2 330261 |
