Sudanese rebel leader dies

BBC News World Service
April 2, 2001

The Southern Sudanese rebel force, the SPLA, is mourning one of its leaders, Yusif Kuwa, who's died in England of cancer. He commanded the Sudan People's Liberation Army in the Nuba mountains. Correspondents say Mr Kuwa became a role model for many young Nubas, bitter at what they regard as unjust policies followed by the government of the former Sudanese president, Gaaffar Mohammad Nimeri. The SPLA rebels, which represent the mainly animist and Christian south, have been fighting successive Arab and Islamist governments in Khartoum since 1983.