* New push to end southern divisions
* Renegade commander meets president
KHARTOUM, Oct 14 (Reuters) - A renegade army commander has begun reconciliation talks with the South Sudan's president, officials said on Thursday, as part of a new push to end southern divisions ahead of an independence referendum.
Gabriel Tang, blamed for two clashes in the territory in 2006 and 2009, visited senior commanders from the southern army (SPLA) in the southern capital Juba and went on to meet southern president Salva Kiir, said SPLA spokesman Kuol Deim Kuol.
Kiir last week offered pardons to Tang and his followers on condition that they stopped their military activities.
"When they (Tang and three of his commanders) came to us ... they said they had accepted the amnesty by the president and they were coming back immediately to their people without any conditions," said Kuol of the meetings on Thursday.
"They said it is very important for all the people of south Sudan to unite at this critical stage of their destiny."
Kuol said he could not comment on whether Tang had reached a formal settlement with the south, saying that depended on talks with the president.
The people of the oil-producing south are less than three months away from a referendum on whether they should form Africa's newest country or stay united with the north, their foes in a decades-long civil war that ended in 2005.
The south has been dogged by outbreaks of fighting between tribes and rival militias before and after the peace accord.
SPLA soldiers clashed with forces loyal to Tang, a former warlord who went on to join the northern army, in Malakal, the capital of Upper Nile region, in February 2009.
A dispute between the SPLA and Tang also erupted into violence in Malakal in December 2006, leaving at least 150 dead, according to the United Nations.
Kiir also offered pardons last week to George Athor, a former southern army officer who said he was cheated out of the governorship of Jonglei state in April elections, 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.
Kuol urged the remaining men and their followers to take up the offer. "They should not delay. They should join the march ... the final lap towards our full freedom," he said, referring to the looming independence vote.
Analysts expect most southerners to choose independence. (Reporting by Andrew Heavens)
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