Sudan’s Bashir, UN envoy discuss stalled peace process
December 2, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese president Omer al-Bashir discussed Tuesday the African Union-brokered peace talks on Darfur and the Two Areas with the UN special envoy for Sudan Haile Menkerios who handed him a message from the chief mediator Thabo Mbeki.
After the meeting, Menkerios told reporters that he discussed with Bashir the outcome of the recent rounds of peace talks and the ongoing efforts for a successful national dialogue.
Based on a roadmap endorsed by the AU Peace and Security Council on 12 September, the process aims to finalise a cessation of hostilities and security arrangements in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states and Darfur region to enable to the rebel groups to take part in a national conference on peace and constitutional reforms.
Sources close to the peace talks say the head of the AU High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) explained to Bashir the deadlock in the peace talks and asked to consider the postponement of the elections and accept the organisation of an all parties meeting outside the country before the internal process.
The sources further said Mbeki was asked “to give the national dialogue a chance” by accepting the preparatory conference which should take place at the African Union headquarters and postpone the elections scheduled for April 2015.
Bashir refuses the organisation of this preparatory meeting gathering saying the entire national dialogue process should be held inside the country.
According to a roadmap endorsed by the AU Peace and Security Council (AUPSC), the preparatory conference aims to discuss issues relevant to the national dialogue to “ensure that the necessary confidence-building are taken, the key steps of the National Dialogue process are fully agreed upon, and that the process is fair and will result in the mutually-agreed objectives”.
Khartoum refuses to negotiate on the preparatory conference saying it requires important logistical means pointing that there are over 93 political parties in Sudan.
The government chief negotiator and presidential assistant Ibrahim Ghandour last week accused the rebels of insisting on matters no related to the Two Areas, saying the most important is to reach a cessation of hostilities and to move forward.
SPLM-N’s top negotiator, Yasir Arman, on the other hand accused the government delegation of attempting to divide the peace process and violating the AU decision for one process two tracks.
“We reject partial solutions, also we stick to the participation of all the Sudanese parties, including the Sudanese Revolutionary Front and the National Umma Party, the National Consensus Forces, and civil society groups, in the preparatory meeting,” he said.
(ST)