Opponents to observe negotiations

KHARTOUM, Oct 11 (AFP) — Sudanese opposition parties have been invited by the government to attend but not participate in Kenya peace talks between Khartoum and southern rebels, a senior official said Saturday.

Opposition politicians and national figures have been invited by Khartoum to travel to the talks, said presidential peace adviser Ghazi Salah Eddin Atabani, without identifying who would accompany him to Naivasha.

They “will not take part in the talks” but will be “around to express their viewpoints outside the negotiating hall,” Atabani told a news conference.

“It is a bid by the government to bring the opposition nearer to the negotiations where they can voice their positions towards different issues,” he said.

Atabani, who did not participate in the latest round of talks which managed to conclude a landmark agreement on security and military arrangements, was originally due to leave for Kenya on Sunday.

Due to flight schedules, he will now fly on Tuesday, he said.

Umma Party deputy secretary general, Abdel Rahman al-Ghali, confirmed to AFP that he and senior Democratic Unionist Party official, Yousuf Ahmed Yousuf, would be among the non-governmental delegation.

The UN Security Council on Friday welcomed progress toward ending Sudan’s 20-year-old civil war and said it stands ready to help implement any deal.

Under a July 2002 peace deal, the people of southern Sudan will enjoy six years of self-rule before voting in a referendum on whether to remain part of Sudan or secede.

In another breakthrough last month, viewed as a major stepping stone to a final settlement, government and rebel negotiators worked out security arrangements, including integrating some of their forces.