unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (09/03/89)
Fighting against rebels could resume: sudanese leader (Xinhua News Agency, AUGUST 30, 400 words, DATELINE: baghdad) sudanese new leader lt. gen. omar hassan ahmed al-bashir said today his government may resume fighting the rebels in south sudan if peace talks collapse and the rebels demand abrogation of islamic laws in the country. speaking at a news conference here this afternoon, al-bashir said his military junta had given up the military option in order to reach a peace settlement through negotiation. but, he said, "we are ready and can resume fighting if war is forced upon us." al-bashir said at the end of a three-day official visit here that iraq has promised to give more military aid to sudan. al-bashir toppled former prime minister sedeq al-mahdi on june 30 in a bloodless coup. a month after seizing power, he announced that his junta was ready for peace talks with the sudan people's liberation army which has been fighting since 1983 for more autonomy and economic reforms for south sudan. al-bashir said he rejects preconditions for the talks and called a 27-point program issued by rebel leader john garang a program for partitioning the country. he said he would exempt the christians and animists in south sudan from islamic laws, but would not abolish them altogether. the islamic laws will be applied to moslems as they are islamic norms, and others will have different laws, he said. al-bashir also said he rejects rebel demands for abrogating all sudan's military agreements with arab states, including an accord with egypt. sudan is an arab country which supports arab national unity, so how can we abolish our agreements with the arab countries? he asked. al-bashir said sudan wants to join either the arab cooperation council or the arab maghreb union. and a third formula could also be possible with egypt and libya, he said. meanwhile, he backed the mediation efforts made by the arab tripartite committee entrusted with settllng the lebanese crisis, saying resolutions adopted at the extraordinary arab summit in morocco last may should be implemented. al-bashir, who arrived monday, held talks with iraqi president saddam hussein on bilateral ties, south sudan and arab issues. he said he had identical views with saddam on the lebanese issue. he described his talks with the iraqi president as very fruitful and having achieved excellent results. * Origin: UNITEX --> Toward a United Species (1:107/501) --- Patt Haring | UNITEX : United Nations patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information patth@ccnysci.BITNET | Transfer Exchange -=- Every child smiles in the same language. -=-