Rebel movement welcomes proposal for resumption of peace talks in Ramadan

BBC Monitoring Middle East

By Sudanese opposition National Democratic Alliance radio

Oct. 31, 2003 — Informed sources from Khartoum say that the people’s movement [Sudan People’s Liberation Movement] has accepted a proposal suggesting speeding-up of the resumption of peace talks and bringing forward the set date for their resumption to a date before the 15th of the current month of Ramadan.

It is clear that the call by the IGAD [Inter-Governmental Authority on Development] partners aims at utilizing the period between the conclusion of the recent Naivasha talks and the [initially] proposed date for the resumption date, 30 November, in holding preliminary meeting to enable the two negotiating sides put forward specific options concerning outstanding dossiers which will be decisively deliberated upon in the coming round of peace talks. Many are optimistic that next round of peace talks will be the last one before the signing of a comprehensive peace and final agreement in Washington.

According to informed sources, IGAD has proposed that the preliminary meeting will be restricted to discussing the two articles of power and wealth sharing, and postpone the dossier of the three [disputed] regions [the Nuba Mountains, Abyei and southern Blue Nile] to another round of talks in the following month.