SPLM-N denies resumption of talks on Sudan’s Two Areas
July 3, 2016 (KHARTOUM) -The rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N) denied that a date has been fixed to resume the Two Areas talks with the Sudanese government.
Last December, negotiations between Khartoum and the SPLM-N stalled after the government delegation insisted that the objective of talks is to settle the conflict in the Two Areas, while the SPLM-N team has called for a holistic approach to resolve ongoing conflicts across Sudan.
On Saturday, member of the government negotiating team Hussein Karshoom revealed that his team will meet with the chief African mediator Thabo Mbeki after Eid al-Fitr (the Festival of Fast-Breaking) to discuss the latest developments on the Roadmap Agreement.
He expressed readiness to meet with the Sudan Call forces if they sign the Roadmap in order to arrange for the cessation of hostilities and agree on the security and humanitarian issues besides completing the framework agreement which they had previously agreed on 90% of its items.
Last March, the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP) proposed a roadmap agreement to the Sudanese government and four opposition groups from the Sudan Call forces.
However, only Khartoum government signed the framework text while the four groups declined the text, saying the Roadmap would reproduce the regime.
The opposition groups handed over a supplemental document to Mbeki and vowed to reconsider their rejection of the Roadmap if he accepts it to ensure that the Roadmap becomes a gateway to an equal, serious and fruitful dialogue.
The Sudanese government declined to accept the opposition supplemental document on the Roadmap, saying the peace plan is definitive and cannot be modified.
In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Sunday, SPLM-N peace file spokesperson Mubarak Ardol said his movement isn’t making any arrangements to meet with the government.
He pointed that Karshoom’s statements come within the framework of a “feverish campaign targeting the unity of the opposition”.
“Any claims that the opposition would sign the Roadmap without responding to the Sudan Call demands is nothing but pure fantasy and reflects the [depth of the] regime’s crisis and its dire need for the opposition forces”.
Ardol further said if the government is in hurry to meet the SPLM-N and the Sudan Call forces it “should respond to the demands to hold an equal dialogue”.
“Without [responding to the opposition demands], no peace talks or dialogue will commence after this Eid or the next Eid,” he said.
The opposition calls to hold a preparatory meeting for the national dialogue; ensuring political and press freedoms, release of political detainees and to set up a transitional government to implement the outcome of the national dialogue.
(ST)