The United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan visited southern Sudan on Sunday, where he pledged UN support to Sudan's comprehensive peace, the SUNA news agency reported.

During his meeting with local officials in Juba, capital town of Behr-el-Jabel state, Annan said the UN supports the implementation of the the Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed by the Sudanese government and the Sudan people's Liberation Movement (SPLM).

The UN chief listened to local officials' reports on security and humanitarian situation in southern Sudan and the preparations necessary for the CPA implementation.

He then traveled to Rumbek town, the current administrative center of SPLM, and met with the SPLM Leader John Garang.

During the meeting, Annan said his visit to Rumbek came in the framework of the UN support to Sudan's peace process and inspecting the conditions of the citizens under the auspices of peace.

He stressed the need to implement the CPA and seek an atmosphere conducive for making the best out of it, urging the SPLM to cooperate with the UN mission in Sudan under Jan Pronk, Annan's representative in Sudan.

While meeting with members of Sudanese National Constitutional Review Commission, who were assigned to review the interim constitution of Sudan, Annan said Naivasha protocols and the CPA have formulated a road map to help solve the Darfur conflict.

He affirmed the need to seek a political solution to the Darfur crisis toward a comprehensive peace in Sudan.

Annan commended the move of the Sudanese government and the SPLM to constitute a government of national unity in next July, stressing the necessity of the participation of all Sudanese political parties and organizations of the civil society in the formation of the constitution.

The constitution must include documents on freedom and human rights, he said, pledging to work for increasing food aid to people in southern Sudan.

Annan urged the international community to lend necessary support to people in southern Sudan who "face tragic conditions".

Annan arrived in Sudan's capital of Khartoum on Friday on a three-day visit. He met afterwards with Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Othman Ismail, during which he confirmed progress in the security and humanitarian situation in Sudan's war-torn western Darfur region.

Source: Xinhua