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NAIROBI, June 17 (AFP) - Khartoum is to insist that Sudan remains united during talks that open here later Monday between the government and rebels, but self-determination for the south will also be on the agenda, the head of the government's delegation said.

Presidential adviser Ghazi Salah Eddin Atabani told a news conference here ahead of the meeting that Khartoum had a "vision" of a "unity of Sudan based on justice, equality of different regions and the sharing of power and resources."

He acknowledged that there was an apparent contradiction between the terms unity and self-determination, but in his view, self-determination was a "means of providing justice to the south".

Atabani, the presidential advisor on peace, will lead the government delegation in the initial stages of five-week negotiations between Khartoum and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A).

The rebels' delegation will be headed by SPLM/A's number two, Salva Kiir.

The talks will be held under the auspices of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional body comprising seven east African states.

The United States, which has stepped up its efforts to find a lasting solution to the 19-year conflict, will be represented by its charge d'affaires in Khartoum, according to Atabani.

Atabani described this latest round of negotiations as happening at an "opportune moment" because neighbouring countries and the US have shown new determination to end the conflict.

He said the current round had been dubbed the "rejuvenation of the IGAD process".

Atabani said Khartoum will not raise the issue of SPLA's recent capture from government troops of the southern town of Kapoeta at the talks, saying it had decided to pursue the matter separately.

"We didn't want that incident to abort the momentum of the peace process," he said.

Khartoum has accused the SPLM/A of violating a truce when it seized Kapoeta on June 9, but the rebel group said no applicable ceasefire agreement existed.

Atabani said the government would offer a comprehensive ceasefire to the SPLM/A when the talks open.

Other issues that will be raised during the talks include the sharing of power and resources, including oil, between Khartoum and the south" the separation of state and religion, and human rights, according to Atabani.

Sudan's civil war is set against a background of resistance by the mainly animist and Christian south to the Islamic regime in Khartoum, but control of resources, including oil and humanitarian aid, and ethnic rivalries have taken an increasingly important role in the conflict. - Nampa-AFP

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