Yemen’s president briefed on Sudan peace process

SANA’A, Yemen, June 23, 2004 (dpa) — Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Wednesday met with Sudan’s Vice President Ali Othman Mohamed Taha in the Yemeni capital Sanaa to discuss developments in the Sudanese peace talks, reported the official Yemeni news agency Saba.

Taha conveyed to Saleh a letter from Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir dealing with these developments.

The report said Taha briefed Saleh about the tentative peace protocols signed by Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in Naivasha, Kenya last month.

According to Saba, Taha handed Saleh copies of the six protocols that call for sharing power and oil revenues.

Yemeni leaders welcomed the Sudanese peace deals and underlined Yemen’s solidarity and support in every effort to preserve the African country’s security, stability and unity, reports said.

Early this month, Yemen said it would send a peacekeeping force to Sudan as part of a U.N. peacekeeping operation once the Khartoum government reaches a final peace deal with southern rebels.