As one Dinka puts it: “We used to attack each other with spears Now, there are automatic rifles. That’s a big change.” It has literally been a case of rape, pillage and slaughter. Both sides believe that the other side has committed terrible crimes. Everybody has a story of bloodshed to tell – of how people from the other side came to steal and kill, before fleeing into the darkness.Not everybody is pleased that the conference, which was partly sponsored by Christian Aid, came to fruition. The Sudanese government has instituted an effective system of divide and kill, to prevent the (black, animist- Christian) south from making headway in its 15-year war against the (Arab, Islamic) north. The Khartoum regime therefore needs a Nuer-Dinka peace deal like a hole in the proverbial head.Even those who seem to have most reason to be keen on reconciliation have sometimes been less than enthusiastic. The southern rebel force, the Dinka-dominated Sudanese People’s Liberation Army, holds huge swaths of territory across the south.

An end to Nuer-Dinka fighting could theoretically make life easier for the SPLA and its leader John Garang (“Dr John”, as he is universally known) in their struggle with Khartoum.SPLA leaders appeared to shower warm words on the conference. The movement’s senior field commander, Salva Kiir, complete with Castro-style rebel’s beard, stands declaiming about reconciliation between Nuer and Dinka. “Let us beat the drums of peace.” Eight bullets gleam on his gun holster; his bodyguards clutch Kalashnikovs; outside the doorway, a young soldier squats behind a sub-machine gun. The SPLA talks peace, but is obsessed with war.Despite the proclaimed enthusiasm of Kiir and others, SPLA leaders are not keen on the conference – because they are not in control of the process. The pressure came largely from the grassroots and local churches, not from national leaders such as Garang and his Nuer counterpart, Riek Machar.

As one of the chants at the bull-slaughtering declared: “They [Machar and Garang] cannot decide anything We are more powerful than they. They cannot lay down the law.”It is as if Gerry Adams and David Trimble were banned from taking part in anything except the opening session of the Stormont peace talks, before handing the floor over to local community leaders In other words, a remarkable set-up. Salva Kiir used his speech to launch what amounted to a recruiting drive for the SPLA, while praising “your show” Not everyone was impressed. Deborah Nyadieu, a small bundle of energy in a neat blue dress, retorted that women no longer want to give birth to babies who would be sent out to die.”We want to ask the men: why have our children been dying? Have any men died pregnant? Have you experienced the pain of labour? You are not so clever, you must take what we are saying seriously Otherwise, next time we’ll make a revolution We’ll stop having intercourse with you. We are not the women of the past.” Laughter, singing, applause.Even if the south-south agreement holds, Sudan’s wider problems are far from over. Despite an alleged ceasefire, government forces continue to attack the south. A hospital in the town of Yei, for example, was severely damaged by Sudanese government bombing raids this month.Some believe that a weakened Khartoum government could agree to a referendum on secession within the next two years; that option is more on the cards than ever before Already, south Sudan is in a separate limbo of its own.