Sudan, western rebels study peace proposal
KHARTOUM, Oct 31 (Reuters) – The Sudanese government and rebels from western Sudan are studying a draft peace agreement proposed at talks in Chad to end their conflict, a Sudanese daily said on Friday.
But a spokesman for the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) said the talks were deadlocked because the government had not responded to its demands, including a call for an international protection force in the area.
Sudan’s foreign minister previously rejected calls for such a force.
The daily Akhbar al-Youm did not give details of the draft deal it said was presented by Chad’s government to the SLM/A and the government at talks in the town of Abeche, near the border between the two states.
The SLM/A emerged as a fighting force in February, accusing the government of marginalising the poor and arid western Darfur region.
The government of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is in separate talks with another group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, to end a 20-year-old civil war in the south.
“The Chadian government has proposed a final peace draft agreement for Darfur to both sides, the Sudanese government and the SLM, during the talks going on between them in Abeche in Chad,” Akhbar al-Youm reported.
It said the two sides were studying the draft at the talks, which began about a week ago. The two sides signed a 45-day ceasefire deal in early September which included agreement to hold peace talks afterwards and to release all prisoners.
But SLM/A spokesman Abdu Abdullah Ismail told Reuters by telephone from west Sudan: “We reached a stalemate because Bashir’s government refused to respond to our demands.”
Alongside an international force, he said SLM/A demands included a call for regional aid and disarmament of what he termed pro-government militias.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said in remarks published by the daily al-Rai al-Aam on Thursday: “The government rejects any presence of international monitors in Darfur and the other demands connected to it.”