Release International

Former southern rebels are in uproar after their northern partners in the national unity government took a unilateral decision to expel UN envoy Jan Pronk.

South Sudan's Vice-President Riek Machar told the BBC that his group was not consulted over the decision to throw Mr Pronk out over he comments made about Darfur. Mr Pronk wrote in an internet blog that Sudan's army had suffered defeats in Darfur and its morale was low. Khartoum accused him of 'losing his neutrality'.

Mr Machar has pointed out that Mr Pronk was appointed in consultation with both northern and southern partners in the government and that his mission was not limited to Darfur.

The BBC reports that northerners believe southerners are interfering in their affairs by supporting the deployment of UN peacekeepers in Darfur to replace the current African Union mission. President Omar al-Bashir is fiercely opposed to any UN deployment. Former rebels from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement argue that Darfur is a national issue, one that threatens to destabilise the whole country.

The dispute over Mr Pronk is just the latest rift between northern and southern groups -- and a further threat to the north-south peace deal signed in January 2005. Several commitments made at that point have still to be carried out, including the training of a joint military unit and the setting up of a national commission to divide oil revenues.

• Pray for greater cooperation and trust between northern and southern partners in Sudan's national unity government.
• Pray that the UN would be allowed to continue its involvement in Sudan, and particularly in Darfur -- where many thousands of lives depend on it.

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