However, no independent media followed up on the story and later rebel command stated opposition forces were still on the town's outskirts, moving slowly because of hundreds of land mines.

The rebel command on the field is all but annihilated; there was, Sears tell us, no one left even to issue a general order of retreat.

The rebel high command officially rejected the cease-fire offer in a radio broadcast late Thursday night.

A member of the rebel command in the city claimed that loyalist forces were killing and wounding civilians indiscriminately.

They say the local people will suffer if the rebel command feels cornered.

It said issuing arrest warrants against the rebel command "could drive the rebels definitively out of the peace process."

But Mr. Garang, even with his long experience at the helm of the rebel command, had struggled to keep southerners together.

The 23 other second-level leaders of the rebel high command lined up behind him, as did about 1,000 of their troops.

They were promised their destination was Cyteen, the center of the rebel command.

And international relief agencies seeking to fly into the south negotiated for permission with the rebel command.