The armed forces general command, meanwhile, said a permanent ceasefire was in effect and pledged its support for the peace agreement, the state news agency SUNA reported.

Following the signing of the treaty in Nairobi on Sunday to end two decades of civil war in the south, Beshir set out on a tour of the region's towns that took him to Juba and Torit.

SUNA said the president made the pledge during his tour and travelled on to Malakal and other towns in Upper Nile State before his scheduled return to Khartoum later Tuesday.

"God willing, we shall safeguard peace, because it is precious, and there will be no return to war," the president told an enthusiastic crowd in Malakal, as shown on state-run television, amid drum-beating celebrations.

The television on Monday night showed pictures of General Beshir in Juba wearing civilian clothes for the first time in his many visits to the government garrison town.

"During my previous visits to Juba, I used to wear military uniform but today I am in civilian clothes because there is no war," Beshir was quoted as saying by the official Al-Anbaa daily.

"There will not be war after today," said Beshir. "The war budget will be directed to education, health and water services."

The president pledged that his government would connect Juba to Khartoum with an asphalted road and that a road network would link the southern towns with each other as well as with neighbouring Kenya and Uganda.

He also said the railway line, which stops at Wau, would be extended to Juba and then on to Kenya.

"We want all of you to vote 'yes' for unity during the referendum," Beshir told a Juba crowd, adding that the Khartoum government and southern administration would together help rebuild homes and villages in the south.

Southern rebel leader John Garang "has become our brother after the signing of the agreement and we have agreed to construct and rehabilitate the Sudan together and not to allow anyone to take up arms", said Beshir.

He also pledged to rehabilitate the town of Torit where he said a specialised hospital and a number of schools would be built.

Garang and Sudan's Vice President Ali Osman Taha signed the peace accord in Kenya, ending 21 devastating years of war that claimed at least 1.5 million lives and displaced another four million people.

Under the peace deal, Juba will become the capital of the south for a six-year period of autonomy followed by a referendum on independence.

The Sudanese foreign ministry said Tuesday it had finalised arrangements with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for the return of some 500,000 southern refugees from neighbouring countries.

UNHCR official Erick Morris said at a meeting in Khartoum on Monday that the agency would provide 100 million dollars in addition to funds expected to be earmarked by an Oslo donor conference in late February.

The voluntary repatriations are to take place from Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Central African Republic and Zaire, while another 30,000 refugees are to be repatriated from Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia.

The UNHCR estimates that there are 223,000 southern Sudanese refugees in Uganda, 88,000 in Ethiopia, 69,000 in the Democratic Republic of Congo and 60,000 in Kenya with smaller numbers in an array of other countries around the world.