Two rebel groups in unification talks

Talks between John Garang’s Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and Riek Machar’s Sudan People’s Democratic Front (SPDF) held in Nairobi, Kenya, have failed so far to reach a formula for a merger, or to resolve differences over the leadership of armed opposition in southern Sudan. The committee had been examining ways to unify military operations, the Sudanese newspaper ‘Al-Ra’y al-Amm’ said on 21 April. According to the report, the committee had agreed on the need for political and military coordination and to unite their armed forces; but fundamental differences had emerged over the status of each side within the leadership of the armed movement.

However, SPLA sources in Nairobi told IRIN that the talks were continuing, and that the issues being debated were “highly confidential”. The talks were described by SPLA spokesman Samson Kwaje as part of an ongoing effort to bring the two groups together, initiated by church groups in 1991. When Riek Machar split off from the mainstream SPLA in 1991, fighting between militia from the two factions led to widespread killings inside southern Sudan. Animosity between the SPLA and the Upper Nile-based SPDF has continued, a regional expert said.