UN envoy holds talks on deployment of peace-support mission in southern Sudan

The United Nations envoy for Sudan is heading to neighbouring Ethiopia for talks with the African Union after wrapping up a two-day visit to southern Sudan where he discussed with former rebels the continuing preparations for the deployment of a future UN peace support mission there.

Jan Pronk, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Sudan, held talks in Rumbek, the provisional capital of southern Sudan, with senior officials from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). He also met UN Country Team staff who are already deployed in the south.

Earlier this month the SPLM/A and the Sudanese Government formally signed an agreement to end the civil war that has left more than two million people dead and displaced nearly four million others since it began in 1983. The deal includes provisions on power-sharing, some autonomy for the south and more equitable distribution of economic resources, including oil.

The UN Advance Mission in Sudan (UNAMIS) reported today that Mr. Pronk has travelled to Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, for further discussions with African Union (AU) officials about increasing cooperation between the two organizations. He is then set to return to Rumbek to meet John Garang, the head of the SPLM/A.

Elsewhere, UNAMIS reported that the general security situation in Sudan's three Darfur provinces - where a separate civil conflict has raged since early 2003 - has been relatively calm in the past two weeks. But cases of banditry and general lawlessness remain quite frequent.