Sudan, Eastern rebels agree to start peace talks next June in Eritrea
May 25, 2006 (ASMARA) – The Sudanese government and the rebel Eastern Front Thursday signed at the Presidential Palace in the Eritrean capital an agreement on the procedural arrangements for their coming negotiations. The parties agreed to start talks next month.
Under the 10-point agreement, the Sudanese government and the rebel Eastern Front state that the peaceful solution is the basic and sole means to solve east Sudan issue. Accordingly, both sides have agreed on Eritrea hosting the dialogue, the first of which is scheduled to take place on June 13, 2006.
The agreement called on Eritrea to play the role of the mediator in the coming negotiations between the two parties.
The agreement stressed that the negotiation process shall be conducted in objectivity and without preconditions toward reaching a practical and applicable agreement that can be implemented within a certain time limit.
According to the procedural arrangement agreement indicated that the proposed peace agreement shall be based on the principles of justice, transparency, equity and in a manner which bolsters the ongoing peace process in Sudan.
The agreement said that the negotiations between the government and the rebel East Front shall be conducted by high – level delegations, and the participation of experts and specialists, provided that each of the negotiation parties shall officially give lists on the names of its members to the mediator.
The agreement also called for the existence of observers who are to be named through consultation with the two parties at the outset of the negotiations. The procedural agreement stipulated that the negotiations are being held in Eritrea.
The agreement was signed by the Minister of Federal Government, Abdelbasit Sabdarat, and Musa Mohamed Ahmed, Chairman of East Front and the Head of Political Affairs at the Eritrean ruling PFDJ, Yemane Gebreab.
Present at the signing ceremony were the Presidential Advisor, Dr. Mansour Khalid, Chief of Sudanes e security service, Salah Gosh, Head of the SPLM parliamentary group at the Federal parliament Yassir Arman, and a number of ministers and diplomats.
Speaking at a press conference following the signing of the agreement, Abdelbasit Sabdarat and Musa Mohamed Ahmed, commended the Eritrean government’s role in the East Sudan peace process and appealed to the Government of Eritrea to continue this positive role for its consummation.
Yemane Gebreab pointed that the agreement reached between the Sudanese government and the East Sudan Front represents a major step forward. In this regard, he further asserted that the Eritrean government would exert the necessary efforts to ensure consummation of the peace process.
Sudan has released three members of the Eastern Front, a key rebel demand before peace talks. The three who were arrested about two months ago in Kassala are released on 21 May.
Eritrea over the past decade has hosted Sudanese armed and political opposition and Sudan had accused them of arming and supporting both eastern and Darfur rebel groups.
Eastern Sudan traditional and tribal leaders called 15 April on the Sudanese government to engage peace negotiations with rebels group, asking Khartoum to consider their participation in the talks for peace in the region.
Rebels took up arms in the 1990s and control the small Hamesh Koreb area. In January, government-allied forces entered Hamesh Koreb and clashed with rebels in an area that borders Eritrea.
The Eastern Front complains of marginalization by the Khartoum government, which it accuses of exploiting natural resources such as oil, natural gas, gold and other minerals at the expense of the local population.
The Eastern Front was founded by eastern Sudan’s two main rebel groups, the Beja Congress and the Free Lions, early last year and claimed to have launched its first offensive against government positions in the Red Sea state last June.
(ST)