Sudan berates rebels ahead of peace talks
CAIRO, Oct 06, 2004 (UPI) — Sudan accused southern rebels Wednesday of obstructing a final peace deal to end the long-protracted Sudanese civil war, the continent’s oldest crisis.
Speaking in an interview with Cairo’s mass-circulation daily al-Ahram, Sudanese Deputy President Ali Othman Taha [photo] said, “The rebels are to blame for the delay in signing a final peace deal due to their stubbornness and inflexibility.”
The Sudanese government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, led by John Garang, have been exchanging accusations of delaying an end to the 21-year conflict.
Taha said the SPLA leader wants the Sudanese government to assume the expenses of his army militia and has been inflexible on security arrangements.
Peace negotiations are scheduled to resume in the Kenyan city of Nevasha on Thursday next week, after a four-month hiatus. The two sides are expected to discuss security arrangements and protocols that have already been signed.
The Sudanese government and the SPLA signed a framework peace agreement on sharing power and wealth and making Khartoum, located in the mainly Muslim north of the country, the secular capital of the state.
The rebels have been fighting a war for secession of the mainly Christian and animist south.