* S.Sudan leader trying to heal splits before referendum
* UN Security Council envoys touring region
By Jose Vieira
JUBA, Sudan, Oct 7 (Reuters) - South Sudan&${esc.hash}39;s president has offered pardons to four men accused of launching attacks as his party strives to heal political divisions in the build-up to an independence referendum, officials said on Thursday.
The people of the oil-producing south are about three months away from a referendum on whether they should form Africa&${esc.hash}39;s newest country or stay united with the north, their foes in a decades-long civil war that ended in 2005.
The underdeveloped south, whose population is mainly Christian and animist in contrast with the mainly Muslim north, has been dogged since then by outbreaks of fighting between tribes and rival militias.
"(President Salva Kiir) has issued pardons for people who have been fighting either the government or the people ... on condition that they stop what they are doing against the state," said Anne Itto, deputy secretary general in Kiir&${esc.hash}39;s dominant Sudan People&${esc.hash}39;s Liberation Movement (SPLM).
"This is historic referendum. It is going to give us an opportunity to decide our future and we want to do it together."
PARDONS COVER FOLLOWERS
The pardons were offered to George Athor, a former southern army officer who said he was cheated out of the governorship of Jonglei state in April elections, and Gabriel Tang, a former warlord now serving in the northern army, according to a copy of the presidential orders seen by Reuters.
The two other men offered pardons were Galwak Gai, who rebelled in Unity State after the elections, and Robert Gwang, accused of launching a mutiny in the Shilluk tribal areas, which mostly lie in Upper Nile state.
The pardons also covered the men&${esc.hash}39;s followers, offered them free movement in the south and pledged to return former southern army officers to their positions in the force.
The announcement came as envoys from the U.N. Security Council toured the south at the start of a trip aimed at pressing Sudanese authorities to hold the referendum on time and avoid another civil war.
The referendum was promised in the 2005 peace accord that ended the civil war, set up the south&${esc.hash}39;s semi-autonomous parliament and divided up oil revenues between the two parties.
Analysts expect most southerners to choose independence, although there have been no comprehensive opinion polls.
The SPLM has accused the north of arming militias to try and disrupt the vote and keep control of the south&${esc.hash}39;s oil, a charge Khartoum denies.
Itto said Kiir had also called a meeting of all the political parties in south Sudan to try and agree on a common set of positions ahead of the referendum.
"The referendum is not an SPLM thing. It is a south Sudan thing. So all the leaders of the political partiers must agree on how to handle this period," Itto told Reuters.
"The fear is that Khartoum may retaliate. They may refuse to accept the decision of south Sudan&${esc.hash}39;s people. It is very important for us to be together on this," she said.
(Additional reporting and writing by Andrew Heavens in Khartoum; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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