NAIROBI (GIN)�The Sudanese government has urged Washington to maintain its neutrality and cancel its plans to aid the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) party.

According to a report in the Washington Post newspaper, the State Department reached agreement on a proposal to deliver some $3 million in logistical support for the NDA (a coalition of northern political parties and southern groups, including the Sudan People�s Liberation Movement/Army, SPLMA) in May.

The report, citing government sources, said the United States planned to provide funding for office space, radios, staff and training to strengthen the NDA�s ability to engage in peace negotiations with the government. The Bush administration regards Sudan as "a military dictatorship with pro-government parliament."

The $3 million support, initially approved by the Clinton administration, is separate from the $10 million in assistance Congress approved in 2000 for the SPLM/A, the report added.

News of the proposed aid dismayed Sudanese officials. "Peace adviser" Ghazi Salah al-Din al-Atabani denounced the U.S. plan saying in a published report: "This (proposed) financial assistance casts doubt on the neutrality of the U.S. administration towards the parties in dispute in Sudan."

"The assistance would possibly increase the factors of war and confrontation" in the country, where an estimated two million people had died from war-related events since 1983, the Associated Press quoted Mr. Atabani as saying.

News of the U.S. funding to the opposition NDA comes on the heels of a visit in November of newly appointed envoy for Sudan, former Senator John Danforth. During his visit, Mr. Danforth presented four proposals to the government and SPLM/A as "tests of good faith" on their interest in peace, which would also improve the delivery of humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations.

The proposals cover: humanitarian access to the Nuba Mountains; a cessation of bombing and artillery attacks on civilians; zones of tranquility and times of tranquility in which humanitarian assistance can be offered, especially for immunizations; and an end to the taking of "slaves".

The proposals were greeted cautiously by the Sudanese President Omar Hasan al-Bashir, who described his government as "extremely enthusiastic" about renewed American peace efforts, but added that the four confidence-building measures proposed were "not basic issues (for ending the war), but questions in which U.S. public opinion is interested."

The points, he said, put too much emphasis on the Nuba Mountains, in Southern Kordofan, south central Sudan, where the rebels hold only five percent of the territory, and are "not related to south Sudan, where the war has displaced millions of people."

He also reiterated the official denial of the existence of slavery in Sudan, calling them "a hollow allegation." The four proposals, Mr. Bashir concluded, were an attempt by the administration of President Bush to "neutralize" what he said was "a pressure camp ... comprising the Christian right, Jewish and African-American lobbies."

There are an estimated 158,000 people in need of emergency food assistance in the Nuba Mountains, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development. Assessments have also identified depleted livestock assets and a chronic lack of agricultural inputs.

"It remains to be seen whether the parties� actions will reflect the agreements ... but we are encouraged by the progress that has been achieved," Roger Winter, director of the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, told United Nations officials and donor representatives in Geneva, Switzerland.

Meanwhile, the Sudan People�s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) has expressed its "deep concern" over reports that a Russian firm was selling MiG-29 jet fighters to the government of Sudan. It was obvious, they claimed, that Khartoum was using oil revenues to purchase these advanced combat aircraft to escalate the war in Sudan.

The weapons sales were reportedly confirmed on Dec. 25 between the government of Sudan and the Russian Aircraft Corporation, according to the rebel group, which cited the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in the Russian capital, Moscow, as its source.

Mr. Danforth is scheduled to return to Sudan in January to gauge progress on the government and the SPLM/A�s commitment to and implementation of these proposals.