Sudan accuses Islamist rivals of sabotaging talks with Darfur rebels

By Mohammed Ali Saeed

KHARTOUM, Nov 23 (AFP) — A top Sudanese government official aired charges Sunday that an Islamist opposition party was trying to sabotage peace talks with rebels in western Sudan and promote the rebellion there.

First Vice President Ali Osman Taha alleged that Hassan al-Turabi’s Popular Congress Party (PCP) had blocked recent talks in Chad with rebels from the western Darfur region.

“Ever since the release of its leader (Turabi) the Popular Congress has never ceased fanning sedition in Darfur,” Taha said, quoted by state Omdurman radio and other media.

President Omar el-Beshir last month freed Turabi from nearly three years of house arrest as part of efforts to prepare to end a 20-year civil war with the main rebel group in the south, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA).

Turabi, a former Beshir ally turned rival, was originally arrested after his party struck a deal with the SPLA in Switzerland that sought to create opposition to the government in Khartoum.

Taha warned his government would disband the PCP if it did not change policy, but PCP official Mohammed Al-Amin Khalifa retorted his party would not “accept any threats and will not keep silent towards any curtailing of its freedoms.”

Since February, the government has clashed with Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) rebels who accuse Khartoum of neglecting the impoverished Darfur region neighboring Chad.

Taha charged that PCP members “infiltrated” an SLM delegation “to negotiate on its behalf in an attempt to obstruct the negotiations by raising new demands” that blocked progress at the last round of talks in Chad.

The security authorities have continued monitoring events in Darfur. “While one group negotiates with the government, another continues fighting the government on grounds it is independent of the negotiating group,” he added.

During a first round of talks in Chad, the Sudanese government and the SLM agreed to a six-week ceasefire that took effect on September 6, which was extended during a new round of talks launched on October 26.

However, no major progress has been reported at these talks aimed at stemming a conflict that is estimated to have cost 3,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom have streamed into Chad.

Both sides have accused each other of ceasefire violations.

Meanwhile, Khalifa, the PCP’s external relations secretary, told AFP that Taha’s threats amounted to a “sabotage of rapprochement by the political forces” amid efforts to end the civil war with SPLA.

He accused the government of aggravating the situation in Darfur by agitating and arming the tribes to fight against each other.

Khalifa said his party has called and still calls for convening a comprehensive conference in which all political forces would participate for “finding a way out of this political crisis.”

Opposition parties have long complained they were excluded from the peace talks with the SPLA in Kenya.