SPLA extends humanitarian ceasefire as peace talks begin

The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) on Monday announced it would extend a humanitarian ceasefire for another three months in the southwestern Bahr al-Ghazal region, news agencies said. AFP quoted SPLA spokesman Samson Kwaje as saying the ceasefire - extending one that expired last week - would also cover the Bentiu, Panaru and Pariang areas in western Upper Nile state as well as Bor, Fangak, Waat, Akobi and Pibor districts in central Upper Nile. The announcement was made on the first day of peace talks brokered by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Nairobi. Meanwhile, donors warned that it would be difficult to continue humanitarian assistance operations in southern Sudan if this round of talks did not achieve progress. At the opening session of the talks, a group of donors under the IGAD Partners Forum said funding would not go on indefinitely. "We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the current level of aid flow from the donor community would be difficult to maintain without tangible progress in the negotiations," news organisations quoted the Italian ambassador, Alberto Balboni, as saying. The closed-door talks are set to run for a week.