SPLM-N hands over list of POWs ahead of their release
April 17, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Former fighters from the Islamist group Sa’ihoon disclosed that the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) had delivered a list of 20 prisoners of war to begin the necessary arrangements for their release.
Last Wednesday the spokesperson of SPLM-N negotiation team, Mubarak Ardol, said they “handed over lists of 20 POWs besides a list of 22 governmental mining staff who [were] caught behind our lines in the Jam chrome mining areas in Blue Nile” .
Sa’ihoon confirmed the receipt of the list on Friday, adding it came as a result of a series of meetings held recently between the two sides in Addis Ababa.
In a statement on Friday, Sa’ihoon spokesperson Ali Osman said they had discussed procedures for the release of the PWOs with the SPLM-N leadership, adding the latter agreed to hand over a list of names of the POWs to the Sa’ihoon and the IRCC.
The statement which was extended to Sudan Tribune said the SPLM-N had also handed over another list to Sa’ihoon and the IRCC containing the names of 22 miners, who have been detained in areas under its control in the Blue Nile.
Sa’ihoon has vowed to follow up on the government’s pledge to permit an IRCC aircraft to return the POWs to their families or transfer them by land to a neighbouring country.
The statement praised the SPLM-N for it’s willingness to complete the release of the 20 POWs and for honouring its pledge to hand over a list of their names to Sa’ihoon, describing the move as “humanitarian”.
In the past the SPLM-N indicated that 10 POWs are in Blue Nile state, while the other 10 are in South Kordofan.
“The Sai’hoon asks Allah (God) to bless these good moves and to return the POWs to their sad families so they could celebrate the coming back of their loved sons,” the statement reads.
The statement added that members of Sa’ihoon, including secretary-general Ismat Mahmoud, spokesperson Ali Osman and Abu bakr Mohmed Yossef held meetings with the SPLM-N leadership, including chairman Malik Agar and secretary-general Yasser Arman between 9 and 11 April in Addis Ababa.
It said the two sides also held similar meetings with representatives from the IRCC in Addis Ababa.
The Sa’ihoon group, which means ‘God-seeking wanderers’ in Arabic, is a loose association of committed Islamists and former combatants from the Popular Defence Forces (PDF), who at one point formed the backbone of the regime which came to power through a coup in 1989.
Mahmoud held a rare and lengthy meeting in Addis Ababa last November with Arman, which led an agreement that Sa’ihoon would mediate between Khartoum and the rebel umbrella Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) to release prisoners held by the parties to the conflict.
(ST)