 Thousands of southern Sudanese danced with President Omar Hassan Bashir yesterday one day after a peace deal was signed to end more than two decades of civil war in the south. A crowd of about 10,000 southerners singing and waving their hands encircled Bashir as he danced to traditional southern music, dressed in a civilian brown suit and covered in a white cloak symbolizing peace. "I used to dress in khaki because I am in the army and because there was war," Bashir told the crowd, which defied security and his armed guards and thrust forward, surrounding his platform. "Today I am still in the army ... but I'm not wearing khaki because there is no more war." | Khaki's are being cleaned and pressed so they'll be ready when the war resumes |
Bashir flew to Juba from the Kenyan capital Nairobi, where his government signed an agreement on Sunday with the southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army to end Africa's longest civil war, which has claimed more than 2 million lives. "Peace is the gift I bring to you," he told the people who had come from all around Juba, southern Sudan's main town. |