The World - News from Aug. 20, 1989

Representatives from Sudan’s new military government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army began talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, aimed at ending a six-year-old civil war. The talks are the first between the rebels and the government of Brig. Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, who seized power June 30 in a coup. After taking power, Bashir said one of his first priorities would be to find a peaceful solution to the civil war. Last week, rebel leader John Garang threatened to use a popular uprising to overthrow the new government unless it stepped down and opened the way for elections.