Sudan’s president, first deputy to meet Thursday

November 27, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese president and his first deputy are expected to meet on Thursday to discuss the current political crisis between the tow partners of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

President Omer al-Bashir and First Vice-President Salva Kiir Mayardit will discuss on Thursday a report prepared by the six-member committee on the points of convergence and divergence on the implementation of the CPA.

The high level six-member panel suspended on November 11 following disagreement on the competence of the committee over Abyei. The panel, formed after the SPLM withdrawal from the federal government, had to discuss the issue of Abyei, north-south border demarcation and troops redeployment.

The deputy chairman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) Malik Agar, said that the meeting comes on the basis of the letter of the Chairman of the SPLM, Salva Kiir, which was handed to president al-Bashir two days ago to end the stalemate between the two partners of the CPA implementation.

Agar added that the six-member committee would start its work following the meeting between the President of the Republic and his first deputy on Thursday in Khartoum.

The former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) withdrew its ministers from the national unity government to protest what they said was a lack of action by the ruling National Congress party on a January 2005 agreement that ended two decades of war.

(ST)