Sudan’s rebels ready to sign comprehensive cessation of hostilities, Minnawi says
July 17, 2013 (PARIS) – The Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) is ready to accept a humanitarian cessation of hostilities in Darfur and the Two Areas before to participate in a comprehensive process aiming to achieve peace in Sudan, said Minni Minnawi a deputy chairman of the rebel alliance on Wednesday.
The dialogue meeting between the Sudanese actors was marred by the decision of the authorities in Khartoum to ban the representatives of the opposition parties from travelling to Geneva after accusing them of coordinating with the rebels to overthrow the regime.
In a statement released on Wednesday after the conclusion of the discussions, the HD Centre regretted the absence of NCF members and reaffirmed that the purpose of the meeting “was the search for a peaceful resolution to Sudan’s conflicts; particularly the building of a national dialogue process in continuation of the meetings held in Geneva one year ago and the symposium held in Khartoum in March 2013; the latter attended by members of the NCP and the political opposition”.
SRF deputy chairman, Minnawi who is also the leader of a Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM)’s faction said they came to Geneva to discuss on peaceful means to settle the ongoing crises in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile, stressing they are highly alarmed by the humanitarian situation in the war zones.
“The humanitarian situation is our priority and we are willing to sign a cessation of hostilities agreement in Darfur region, Blue Nile and south Kordofan to allow humanitarian access to the needy in these areas”, he said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
The rebel leader condemned the ban imposed on the NCF representatives and reaffirmed their support to the efforts of the HD Centre to organise such meetings with the Sudanese opposition to discuss ways to settle peacefully the ongoing crises in the country.
“We are ready to participate in any future meeting the HD Centre organise with the NCF parties because we are committed to a comprehensive process gathering all the Sudanese actors including the opposition forces, National Congress Party, youth groups and civil society organisations”
He further stressed that no “sustainable peace” can be achieved in Sudan with the partial solutions.
“This is why we reject separate talks. The SRF proposes to unify all the forums for peace in Sudan,” Minnawi said adding that American and Canadian diplomats who attended the meeting supported this holistic approach.
The HD Centre in its statement was keen to point out that “International representatives attended in an observer capacity without influencing the meeting’s outcomes and indicated their support for peaceful conflict resolution and opposition to military means”.
The Geneva based group vowed to continue its efforts to narrow the gaps between the ruling NCP, opposition NCF and the SRF rebels to reach a “a peaceful resolution to Sudan’s conflicts that would put an end, once and for all to war and violent conflict in Sudan “.
Among the participants in the three-day meeting there were Ali Al-Haj of the Popular Congress Party and Youssef al-Koda, who leads Al-Wasat Islamic party.
Farouk Abu Eissa, leader of the NCF did not attend as expected. Also, SPLM-N secretary general Yasir Arman did not take part in the meeting but his group was represented.
(ST)