Nuba Vision

Volume 2, Issue 4, July 2003

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa arrived in Sudan on Sunday, hoping to boost efforts to end war between the predominantly Muslim north and rebels in the animist and Christian south, the Associated Press reported on 06/29/03. Moussa on a three-day trip, sounded an optimistic note about troubled peace negotiations. "We are all working for the realization of peace in the Sudan and all matters are now moving toward achieving this goal," he said in a statement. Moussa was flying to southern Sudan on Monday, the first Arab League chief to visit this area. Moussa met with President Omar el-Bashir and other senior officials Sunday; he was not expected to meet with rebels in the south. Moussa was also to take part in events marking the 14th anniversary of el-Bashir’s 1989 military takeover.

El-Bashir praised his own administration’s achievements, claiming that Sunday, adding "our most prominent and greatest of all will be realizing peace." Nonetheless, recent differences have flared between the government and rebels, notably over the status of the capital. El-Bashir has rejected the idea of a secular Khartoum, while rebels in the south warn that this could push them to secede. The main northern Sudanese opposition parties agreed last month on the idea of the national capital being based on equality between people of different religions, beliefs and political persuasions. But the Sudanese president has said the status of the capital had been settled and that any attempt to renegotiate it would mean aborting peace talks that have been held in Kenya.