Formal negotiations are due to start on Monday in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, in the latest round of peace talks between the Sudanese Government and representatives of the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army.

The talks will be taking place amid angry protests from the SPLA that government planes have bombed a Southern town.

A rebel spokesman, Samson Kawaje, said the attack on the rebel-held town of Yei had violated the ceasefire agreement which was extended on saturday for another three months.

Mr Kawaje said the bombing did not create a good climate for the talks.

It's estimated that more than one-and-half-million people have died in fighting or war-related famine in seventeen years of civil war in Sudan.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service