Sudanese peace advisor not sidelined, not resigning: office

KHARTOUM, Sept 6 (AFP) — The office of the peace advisor to Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir on Saturday denied reports that he had been sidelined from negotiations with southern rebels or had presented his resignation.

An official in Ghazi Salaheddine Atabani’s office said he was currently still serving as peace advisor amid pressure for the government and rebels to quickly reach a settlement to end Africa’s oldest civil war.

Al-Ahram, an official Egyptian newspaper — citing non-official Sudanese sources — earlier reported that Atabani had decided to quit after being replaced at fresh peace talks by Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha.

But the official in Atabani’s office said Taha “was presiding over the high peace council and there is no contradiction between his role and Mr Atabani’s.”

However, Atabani is not part of the government’s delegation to the new peace talks being held in Kenya with rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) leader John Garang.

Sudan, Africa’s largest country, has suffered civil unrest since independence in 1956, but the current civil war started in 1983 when the SPLA took up arms to end domination of the south by Khartoum.

The war has, directly and indirectly, killed more than 1.5 million people and displaced more than four million others.