Rebels, Sudan far apart after Nairobi summit

CAIRO — Sudan and its southern-based rebels remain far apart on a proposal to end the 18-year-old civil war.

The issue was discussed during an African summit in Nairobi over the weekend. Kenya hosted a summit to facilitate a ceasefire.

The Sudanese People's Liberation Army has rejected a ceasefire declared by the regime in Khartoum. Rebel leaders said the unilateral ceasefire announced by Khartoum was in response to recent government losses to the SPLA. SPLA leader John Garang said his forces captured the key town of Raja in the southwestern province of Bahr El Ghazal.

After the summit, Garang said his forces would not stop fighting until Khartoum ended the development of oil resources and their export. The SPLA and relief agencies have charged that Sudan has used oil revenues to finance the war in the south.

Both Garang and Sudanese President Omar Bashir attended the Nairobi summit. But Bashir refused to meet Garang, saying on previous occasions the SPLA leader had walked out of such sessions.

At the weekend summit, Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi called on Khartoum to guarantee the rights of Christian and non-Muslim minority. Moi called for a referendum for self-determination in the south as well as an interim government in the area. But officials said Khartoum and the SPLA disagree on these issues.