Sudan accuses SPLM-N of obstructing Addis talks
July 30, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese negotiating delegation to the political talks with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – North (SPLM-N) accused the rebel group of hampering the process by seeking to include issues not related to the agenda.
Sudanese government and SPLM-N rebels are holding talks in Addis Ababa to reach a political settlement for the one year conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, as required in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution 2046.
The head of the Sudanese team, Kamal Obeid, said from Addis Ababa that the SPLM-N had handed the mediation team a five page position paper that only dedicates one and a half lines to the issue of the talks, the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.
Obeid asserted that the SPLM-N in its paper dealt with issues that were not pertinent to the process.
He also added that rebel group asked to open a similar track to deal with the grievances of Darfur, East Sudan, Dams area in northern Sudan, North Kordofan State and the Gezira scheme in central Sudan.
In accordance to the UN resolution, the two parties have to discuss a political solution for the conflict based on a framework agreement they signed in June 2011.
The SPLM-N and its allied Darfur rebel groups in the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) refuse to hold separate talks with the government over their respect conflicts and have called for a comprehensive and inclusive process.
Hajo Elsayed, deputy speaker of the Sudanese parliament, told reporters in Khartoum that his government is sincere in its intention to reach a deal with the SPLM-N and to resolve the conflict.
He denied the existence of a divergence within the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) over the negotiations, but admitted that there are different points of view over the personality of SPLM-N leaders who negotiate with the government.
He added that Malik Agar, SPLM-N chairman, and Yasir Arman, SPLM-N secretary general, are unacceptable figures to the Sudanese people but “at the end of the day, they are the Movement’s leaders and we have to negotiate with them”, he stressed.
He also went on to disclose that the issue of the SPLM-N troops triggered the initial presidential rejection of 28 June 2011 deal, reaffirming that the government refuses to have two armies in the country.
Hajo was referring to the decision of President Omar Bashir to rebuff a deal the African Union mediation had brokered between the two parties in June 2011.
The SPLM-N army was supposed to be disarmed and integrated into the Sudanese army after the implementation of a protocol related the two regions included in the 2005 comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).
However, since May 2011 the Sudanese army have asked the rebels to disarm causing the resumption of hostilities between Khartoum and SLPLM-N fighters six year after the signing of the CPA.
(ST)