An estimated 3000 South Sudanese rebels have surrendered and accepted an amnesty ending a long-standing insurgency in the oil-producing north of the country.

South Sudan's Government has been struggling to contain several insurgencies it claims are supported by its civil war foe Khartoum since it gained independence from Sudan in July 2011. Sudan denies the claims.

Relations between the Sudans have thawed in recent months, paving the way earlier this month for the resumption of the South's oil being piped through Sudan after a 15-month shutdown.

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir yesterday issued an amnesty for six rebel commanders including Bapiny Monytuil, the leader of the South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA), and their troops.

The SSLA, formed in the late 1990s, is one of largest rebel groups in the region. It switched sides several times during the civil war between north and south Sudan that killed some two million people in clashes over oil, religion, ideology and identity. The war, which began in 1983, ended with a 2005 peace deal that paved the way for the southern secession.

Earlier this month Sudan's President Omar Hassan al Bashir made his first visit to South Sudan since its secession in a bid to help normalise relations.