1.
MV & GV Lagu at top of table surrounded by press (2 shots)
0.11

2.
CU Journalists taking notes.
0.16

3.
CU Official.
0.19

4.
CU Lagu speaks,
2.38


SOF STARTS: "An agreement has be. ..."



SOF ENDS: "...in black Africa



SEQ. 4: LAGU "An agreement has been reached between our delegation and the delegation of the Sudan government in February, late February this year. And very recently I have been to Addis Ababa to ratify the agreement, bringing to an and the civil war that has took place in the Sudan for over 16 year.........To my opinion the agreement is satisfactory, in that we in south Sudan have not really been separatists as people sometimes say.........We took arms and we fought for equality. We didn't like them to force on us their cultures, their arab values. We felt we have our own that we cherish. We do not condemn their Arab cultures and values.... .... We feel it is right for them to keep what is theirs......... We too must also keep our own........In our opinion their Arabism could be used by us jointly in the Sudan to get more friends for the Sudanese nations outside the borders of the Sudan. But we also feel that if we keep our African cultures, traditions and values, we can also make for them more friends and brothers in black Africa."




Initials VS/21.14 VS/21.21



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The leader of the South Sudan Liberation Front, Major General Joseph Lagu, met reporters in Nairobi on Thursday (April 6) to discuss last month's agreement in Addis Ababa which ended the 16-year-old civil war between North and South Sudan.

The agreement, ratified by General Lagu and Sudanese Foreign Minister Mansour Khalid, gives the African South measure of political autonomy from the Arab north.

Since ratification of the accord, General Lagu has met exiled southern Sudanese in Uganda, Ethiopia, and Kenya before returning for consultations with his followers inside sudan.

SYNOPSIS: On tour in Nairobi on Thursday, the southern Sudanese leader, Major General Joseph Lagu, met newsmen to discuss the agreement ending the 16-year-old Sudanese Civil War. Under the term of the accord, ratified last month in Addis Ababa, the African south Sudan is to get more political autonomy from the Arab north.