SLM-Minnawi does not rule out political alliance with SPLM

December 3, 2009 (JUBA) — The Senior Presidential Assistant and leader of a Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) faction Minni Minnawi today did not exclude political alliance with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).

Minnawi held talks today with the First Vice President Salva Kiir Mayadrit, the SPLM chairman on the upcoming election in April 2010 and the ongoing voter registration process which will end within four days.

Following the meeting, the former rebel leader who signed a peace deal with the government in May 2006 told reporters that a political alliance with the SPLM for the general election is “possible”.

The SPLM and the SLM-MM are both members of the national unity government led by the dominant National Congress Party (NCP).

Minnawi is preparing to launch his political campaign in Darfur and other parts in the country. He plans to start a national tour including Al-Jazeera state, Sennar, Al Qadarif and northern state.

The President of southern Sudan government, after four years of poor implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in January 2005, operated a radical shift in his relation with the NCP.

During the first years of the peace agreement he had distanced himself from the opposition parties believing this would allow him to administrate the southern Sudan while the NCP would focus on the north.

However last September the SPLM hosted a meeting for the opposition parties and some of the national unity government as Minnawi’s SLM. The Juba conference parties are expected to decide to form an electoral coalition with one candidate for the presidency and to coordinate for the legislative elections.

(ST)