September 9, 2002	Monday	Rajab 1, 1423

KHARTOUM, Sept 8: Another battalion of Islamist militiamen left the capital here Sunday for Sudan’s southern war zones to help government troops recapture a stronghold from the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA).

The SPLA’s capture of Torit last week prompted Sudan to withdraw from peace talks in Kenya that had raised hopes for an end to the 19-year civil war between the Arab and Muslim north and the mainly Christian and animist south.

The government staged a ceremony for the departure of a battalion of more than 100 mujahideen, all volunteers from the Popular Police force, from Khartoum airport to the southern Nile town of Juba.

From Juba, the militia men will travel to Eastern Equatoria state to help retake the garrison town of Torit, some 120 kilometres further east, and other areas which fell to the SPLA last week, officers said.

The Popular Police force is among several Islamist militias or paramilitary groups that have trained civilians for combat since the Islamist government seized power here in 1989. They have been sending forces to the south since last week.

Another is the Popular Defense Forces, whose coordinator Kamal Eddin Ibrahim said here Saturday that the mujahideen would “continue pouring into the region until every (inch of territory) occupied by the rebels is liberated.”

The Popular Police mujahideen were seen off by Defence Minister Bekri Hassan Salih, Interior Minister Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein and senior police officials.—AFP