South Sudan city swept for guns

Khartoum, 10 Sept-(ANA)-Security forces in southern Sudan have stepped up an operation to rid the area of weapons by carrying out house-to-house searches and mounting roadblocks.

Officials swept through Juba city at dawn telling residents to stay in their homes and seizing illegal weapons.

Many in the south remain heavily armed after 22-year war with the north.

It came as US envoy Scott Gration arrived in Juba for talks aimed at paving the way for the south to hold a referendum on seceding from the north.

The operation to disarm the south began in February, with the UN billing it as the biggest such operation in history.

The south is reeling from a string of violent clashes which have killed 2,000 and displaced more than 250,000 this year.

Under a 2005 peace deal that ended the civil war, former rebels from the south formed a power-sharing government with President Omar al-Bashir's party in Khartoum.

A national election is now due in 2010 and a referendum the year after. (ANA)

FA/ANA/10 September 2009---