Sudan invites rebels to join ruling party or form separate one
KHARTOUM, Oct 6 (AFP) — Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir has invited the southern rebel movement to merge with the ruling party or establish a separate one after peace is achieved and unity is endorsed, a press report said on Monday.
Beshir said negotiations resuming in Kenya on Monday with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) would “put the final touches of peace after which the Sudan will eliminate its political, economic and social problems,” the official Al Anbaa daily said.
Beshir, speaking at a meeting of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) late on Sunday, urged negotiators on both sides in the Kenyan town of Naivasha to work seriously for “a final, comprehensive and just peace.”
“All the Sudanese people are behind you and the entire world is waiting for a peace agreement and so are the peace-loving peoples,” said Beshir, adding that peace in Sudan would contribute to peace and stability in the region.
Beshir has called for forgetting “the wounds, bitterness and grievances caused by the war,” adding that the Sudanese people “are tolerant by nature and can forget all the sorrows and resentments”.
He added that he is looking forward to meeting with the SPLM/A in the NCP premises here after unity has been approved in a referendum that would be conducted after the six-year interim period.
“I hope we will be here with our brothers in the Movement after the Sudanese people choose the unity option and at that time our brothers are welcome if they decide to merge with the National Congress or have a new party to operate in the political arena,” Beshir said.
The peace talks resuming in Kenya will seek to thrash out the sticking points of power-sharing and oil resources, as well as disputed regions.
Both parties signed last month a deal which established security arrangements that include integrating some of their forces during the six-year transitional period, at the end of which the southern Sudanese would vote for unity or secession.
Sudan’s civil war started when the SPLA took up arms in 1983.
Since then, more than 1.5 million people have been killed in war and war-related famine.