Rebels reportedly ready to merge with government if talks succeed

Excerpt from report by Al-Ittihad daily newspaper on September 20 2003

A senior military official of the John Garang’s movement [rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, SPLM], Edward Linu, has said to Al-Ittihad that a real progress and break through has been made at the peace talks on the issue of security arrangements.

He said currently members of the two military delegations were exerting a lot of efforts to put in place the final touches to arrive at a comprehensive accord regarding this thorny issue.

He said a comprehensive agreement on the security matter is expected to be reached and announced latest by today or tomorrow if the outstanding issues are resolved.

Mr Linu said the SPLM will merge with ruling Salvation government in governance in the first phase, after arriving at a comprehensive final peace agreement. He described the move as natural course which does not breach the movement’s agreement with other Sudanese negotiating parties, particularly the National Democratic Alliance and the Ummah Party.

He said the second phase of the talks in the transitional period will witness participation of the rest of the political parties