Sudan People S Liberation Army

For a lucky few in the besieged, refugee-jammed Sudanese city of Juba, $350 can buy space on a packed cargo plane to Khartoum. For others, there is virtually no escape. Refugees said that the Sudanese army is preventing thousands of frightened civilians from fleeing to rebel-held territory outside the town to escape shellfire, food shortages and the threat of rebel attack.

Sudan's government and the main rebel faction in the Darfur region signed a peace accord Friday to end three years of fighting in which tens of thousands of people have died and 2 million have been forced to flee their homes. Majzoub Khalifa, head of the government's negotiating team, and Minni Arcua Minnawi, rebel Sudan Liberation Army faction leader, signed the deal here after days and nights of intense talks under international pressure.

Sudan's new military ruler said his junta will start peace talks with rebels today, less than a week after he seized power in a coup. Brig. Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir said the talks with the Sudan People's Liberation Army on ending the six-year-old civil war will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Thousands here fled the horrors of Sudan's civil war. Some even sought refuge in graveyards, growing food in the cemeteries of Juba, where the more unfortunate were buried. The once-prosperous city was a symbol of an unending conflict: cargo planes bringing in scant relief, shells crashing down from rebel artillery, hundreds of thousands of refugees streaming into a city redolent of death. Today, Juba is no longer a symbol of the war. It's an oasis.

The new military leader of Sudan said Thursday that his government will start talks with rebels next month aimed at bringing lasting peace to the south after six years of devastating civil war. Brig. Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir made the announcement after returning from the Organization of African Unity summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Sudan and its rebel foes have agreed to hold direct peace talks in Nairobi, Kenya, on Dec. 1 without preconditions, former President Jimmy Carter said. Carter, in Nairobi to chair peace negotiations between Ethiopia and rebels fighting in the northern Eritrea province, said he had been authorized to make the announcement by Sudan's military leader, Gen. Omar Hassan Bashir, and Sudan People's Liberation Army leader John Garang.

A C-130 cargo plane carrying 15 1/2 tons of corn landed in the southern Sudanese city of Torit as the United Nations started up relief operations after a bloody ambush caused a three-day delay. Paul Mitchell, a spokesman for the United Nations' Operation Lifeline Sudan, said the plane arrived in the beleaguered city Friday from Kampala, Uganda. He also said the C-130, leased from and operated by the Miami-based Southern Air Transport, will make three flights daily to Torit until it has delivered 1,100 tons.

For a lucky few in the besieged, refugee-jammed Sudanese city of Juba, $350 can buy space on a packed cargo plane to Khartoum. For others, there is virtually no escape. Refugees said that the Sudanese army is preventing thousands of frightened civilians from fleeing to rebel-held territory outside the town to escape shellfire, food shortages and the threat of rebel attack.

Sudan and its rebel foes have agreed to hold direct peace talks in Nairobi, Kenya, on Dec. 1 without preconditions, former President Jimmy Carter said. Carter, in Nairobi to chair peace negotiations between Ethiopia and rebels fighting in the northern Eritrea province, said he had been authorized to make the announcement by Sudan's military leader, Gen. Omar Hassan Bashir, and Sudan People's Liberation Army leader John Garang.

Sudan's military ruler opened a peace conference in Khartoum aimed at ending six years of civil war and appealed to the leader of the rebels to attend. Gen. Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir told the conference in the capital that he would take "all measures" to ensure the safety of John Garang, leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Army, if he would attend. The rebels are boycotting the meeting after announcing preconditions for Garang's attendance.

The new military leader of Sudan said Thursday that his government will start talks with rebels next month aimed at bringing lasting peace to the south after six years of devastating civil war. Brig. Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir made the announcement after returning from the Organization of African Unity summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Turkey has agreed to supply rifles and machine guns to Sudan, which is fighting a rebellion in the south, Turkish officials said Friday. A shipment of 30,000 G-3 automatic rifles and 1,000 MG-3 machine guns worth $9.6 million will be completed before the end of the year, they said. The Sudan People's Liberation Army has been fighting since 1983 to end what it sees as domination of the mainly animist and Christian south by the Muslim north.