Sudan’s govt, northern opposition leaders start reconciliation talks
By SALAH NASRAWI, Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt, Aug 25, 2004 (AP) — Sudanese government officials and northern opposition leaders, including those from Darfur, began talks Wednesday meant to find a way to include the north in a settlement of the African nation’s two-decade civil war.
The two sides are meeting at a secret venue outside Cairo to avoid unnecessary publicity, said one Egyptian official, requesting anonymity.
The talks are aimed at reaching a power-sharing formula that will include the northern opposition groups, who have felt sidelined in the peace talks between the government and southern rebels.
In 1989, President Omar al- Bashir’s government banned political parties, forcing their leaders into exile. He eased restrictions somewhat in 2002, and some returned.
Opposition groups served a mostly consultative role in the southern peace talks which reached a number of agreements that raise hope for a comprehensive peace deal soon. Now, the exiled northern leaders have renewed their push for an increased role in Sudan.
“It is a good start and we hope a positive atmosphere continues to prevail throughout the discussions,” said an opposition leader on condition of anonymity. “This is a historical opportunity and should not be lost.”
The government’s delegation to the talks was headed by Nafe’a Ali Nafe’a, minister of local governments. “Peace and national unity in Sudan is now achievable,” he said upon his arrival to Cairo on Tuesday.
The opposition delegation also included representatives of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, which led the fight for autonomy for southern Sudan but has been involved in the peace talks mediated by Kenya.
Egypt has a strong interest in the unity of Sudan, its southern neighbor, both for the sake of regional security and to maintain the flow of the Nile River, which waters a number of African nations. Egypt fears that if southern Sudanese secede from the nation, they could impose control on the river.
Earlier this year, the SPLA, Sudan’s largest rebel group, and the government agreed on wealth-sharing deals and what to do with their forces during a six-year transition period.
Under the framework worked out with Kenyan mediation, the Sudanese government, which had vowed to create an Islamic state after seizing power in 1989, agreed state and religion should be separate. It also said that six years after a full peace agreement was signed, Sudanese in the mainly Christian and animist south would be allowed to vote on whether to remain part of the country.
Sudan’s civil war erupted in 1983 when rebels from the mainly animist and Christian south took up arms against the predominantly Muslim and Arab north. More than 2 million people died in Africa’s longest-running conflict, mainly through war-induced famine, but fighting has slowed since the warring parties began peace talks in July 2002.
Sudan is now under international pressure to end violence and a humanitarian crisis in its western Darfur region. On Wednesday, government delegates and Darfur rebel leaders in Darfur began work on a formal agenda for talks in Abuja, Nigeria, to end violence in the war wracked region.