Sudan’s SRF groups respond to Minnawi’s statement about failure of Juba talks
April 13, 2020 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF)’s groups stressed that the peace process has made tangible progress to meet the demands of the war-affected regions, denying any failure to address the root causes of the conflicts.
Eight SRF groups issued on Sunday evening an “Explanatory Statement” detailing the major achievements in the peace talks since the signing of Juba declaration on confidence-building measures on September 11, 2019.
The statement was signed by the Sudan Liberation Movement – Transitional Council (SLM-TC), SRF Democratic Unionist Party of Eltom Hajo, SPLM-N Malik Agar, Justice and Equality Movement, (JEM) Sudan Liberation Forces Alliance (SLFA) led by Taher Hagar, the United Popular Front for Liberation and Justice, Beja Congress of Osama Said and Kush Liberation Movement.
The joint move comes as a tacit response to a tweet by Minni Minnawi on Friday who criticized the peace process in Juba.
“After eight months of negotiations with the government in Juba, all the core issues in the peace talks remain pending. The only agreement reached in the talks is the appearance of the wanted people before the International Criminal Court,” he wrote.
The tweet was released on the same day the SLM-MM decided to suspend its participation in the Juba talks blaming the mediation for not consulting them before to issue its decision to extend the talks to 9 May.
Also, the group regretted the signing of the extension agreement by its partners and accused some of its partners in the regions that are not affected by the war of seeking to achieve personal goals at the detriment of Darfur region.
The SRF groups said that they signed the one-month extension agreement to confirm their commitment to South Sudan meditated process until the completion of the peace process.
Therefore, they implicitly insinuated the SLM-MM continue to contesting Juba as a venue of the peace talks.
The eight groups recognized that there are important issues still pending in the Darfur file, but that does not mean that the negotiation has not made progress.
The Juba process ” has achieved great gains for the people of Darfur and the victims of the war that had been not achieved before, and established important foundations for justice and fair standards for power-sharing and wealth-distribution for all the people of Sudan. ”
The statement also pointed out that the Darfur track covered all the agreed agenda except the security arrangements which had been delayed after the death of the late defence minister.
SLM-MM on Sunday morning said they would meet the mediation to discuss their concerns.
Also, the South Sudanese mediation on Saturday reassured the recalcitrant group saying they will address all their concerns.
In Khartoum, the government negotiating said they would keep negotiating with the SRF groups to achieve peace.
Also, the spokesman of the government delegation and top negotiator for Darfur track said they would hand over their written response to Darfur groups on Monday.
Last week, the groups of Darfur track filed their position paper on the pending issues on the power-sharing chapter.
(ST)