Ex-rebel leader John Garang was sworn in as Sudan's first southern and Christian vice president

On July 9, 2005 former rebel John Garang made a triumphant return to Khartoum. It is the first time he had set foot in Sudan's capital for 22 years. He greeted the president and hundreds of thousands of supporters hopeful for a new era after Africa's longest civil war.



Photo: Sudanese President Omer el Bashir right holds hands with John Garang, leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Army at the headquarters of the ruling national congress party in Khartoum, Sudan, Friday, July 8, 2005, ahead of his swearing in to the position of first vice president. (AP Photo/Abd Raouf)

July 15 AFP - US President George W. Bush directed the Pentagon to spend six million dollars in 'commodities and services' to help transport African Union troops to Darfur. The speaker of South Darfur state legislature is among four people who have been held captive by ethnic minority rebels for nearly a fortnight, Sudan's official media reported.

July 14 AFP - US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick talked to the press following his meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Borg al-Arab town, 60 kms west of Alexandria. The two men focused on Iraq and Sudan as well as bilateral relations.

July 9 AFP - Mr Zoellick said the situation in Darfur continues to be terrible and called on Sudan's government to do more to improve security and access to relief aid.

July 13 AFP - Security has improved in some parts of Darfur but fear continues to reign among internally displaced persons, a UN official said.

July 12 Reuters - Here is a photo of Sudan's opposition Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi talking during an interview with Reuters in Khartoum, July 11, 2005.



Hassan al-Turabi promised to stick to peaceful opposition to the Khartoum government, just days after his release from 18 months in detention for allegedly plotting a coup. Above picture taken July 11, 2005. Al-Turabi hit out at Sudan's new power-sharing arrangement that put a final seal on a north-south peace deal, saying it failed to represent the country's political forces. 'I am not objecting to southern representation. They deserve it because they have been disadvantaged for so long, it is the other 52 percent,' Turabi told AFP.

July 10 AP - Sudanese former prime minister and chairman of the Umma Party, Imam Sadiq al-Mahdi held a press conference in Khartoum, Sunday, July 10, 2005. The leader of Sudan's main opposition party criticized the nation's interim constitution as deficient and said he was forming an alliance with a leading Islamist figure to monitor the new government sworn in the day before.



July 9 AP - In the above image provided by the UN, John Garang, first vice president of the Republic of Sudan meets with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Saturday, July 9, 2005 in Khartoum, Sudan. (AP Photo/UN, Evan Schneider)

The UN said on July 9 that donors must honour pledges of more than $4.5 billion in aid for Sudan or endanger a January agreement ending Africa's longest civil war in the south of the country. Speaking after southern rebel leader John Garang took the oath of office as first vice president in a peace government, the U.N. Secretary-General said he would be writing to major donor countries to remind them of the urgent needs in Sudan. (Reuters/Opheera Mcdoom)



July 9 AFP - In the above photo, former Sudanese rebel leader John Garang (L) shakes hands with former enemy Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir in Khartoum. Garang was sworn in as Sudan's first vice president as a new power-sharing constitution came into force in a bid to put a final seal on two decades of civil war. (AFP/Salah Omar)



July 9 AP - John Garang, on left in above photo, is sworn in as first vice president of the Republic of Sudan in Khartoum, Saturday, July 9, 2005 as President Omar El-Bashir, center, and the chief justice Galal edd in Mohammed Osman, right look on. Ex-rebel leader Garang, who was feted in a massive public reception a day earlier, is now Sudan's first southern and Christian vice president. Rebel groups fighting in Sudan's western and eastern regions voiced hope that Garang would help restore stability in the vast African nation. (AP Photo/Abd Raouf)



July 9 AP - President Omar El-Bashir is sworn in as president of the Republic of Sudan in Khartoum Saturday July 9, 2005. (AP Photo/Abd Raouf)
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Release of soldiers and political prisoners



July 9 Reuters photo - Soldiers who were detained by the former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) disembark from an International Committee of the Red Cross plane in Khartoum after being released in this July 7, 2005 file photo. Last week Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said in a speech that his government had decided to release all political prisoners and undertake other reform measures. (Reuters/Handout/ICRC/Lorena Brander)
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Garang makes it to Khartoum after 22 years



Photo: Sudanese President Omar el Bashir, right, welcomes the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement John Garang in Khartoum, Sudan, Friday, July 8, 2005. (AP Photo/Abd Raouf)