SUDAN: Sudanese rebels flew into the dust-swept capital, Khartoum, yesterday for an historic visit marking the success of ongoing peace talks in neighbouring Kenya.
For the first time in 20 years, delegates from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement - the political wing of the armed southern rebellion - landed at Khartoum airport, a move that would have sparked instant arrest only months ago.
Ecstatic supporters hoisted black-suited Pagan Amum of the SPLA leadership council on their shoulders and carried him to the government delegation. Others in the 10-person team grinned broadly and waved clenched fists as soldiers directed them into a convoy of waiting jeeps.
Thousands of cheering supporters thronged outside the airport building, waving banners, singing "Down with the Old Sudan" and brandishing posters of rebel leader Dr John Garang.
Most came from the squalid camps on the edge of Khartoum that house most of the city's southern population. Forced from their home areas by war, they say they are treated like second-class citizens by Arab northerners.
Standing opposite a camouflaged truck full of riot police, some defiantly waved flags of "New Sudan", an entity declared by the rebels during the bitter conflict that has claimed over two million lives since 1983.
However, many were furious when government officials directed the rebel convoy away from the main crowd and down a road leading from the airport complex.
The visit coincided with the resumption of talks between Dr Garang and government Vice-President Ali Osman Taha at a lakeside lodge in Naivasha, Kenya.
"We want to live together in one country. But if the government cannot change its policies, we will form our own country," said Malok Mayot, a jobless Dinka from Abyei, a southern town whose future status has sparked fierce negotiation in Kenya.
The SPLM supporters were joined by a smaller number of white-turbanned Arabs from northern opposition parties, including that of Hassan al Turabi, the once-powerful Islamic ideologue, recently released from house arrest.
"Democracy is not available here now. We expect it will come with the peace," said Mohamed Ibrahim of the Umma party.
The rebel delegation is due to meet government officials, civil society and religious groups in preparation for the final signing of a peace deal, probably after Christmas.
Some key sticking points have already been agreed - the rebels will administer southern Sudan for a six-year transition period, following which a referendum will determine whether to secede from the Arab-dominated north.
The talks have been propelled forward by international pressure, particularly from the US, which has accused Sudan of "sponsoring terrorism".
But thorny issues such as the distribution of oil wealth and the fate of three borderline areas are yet to be decided.