Sudan’s government and rebels meet African mediation ahead of direct talks
August 9, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – Government and armed groups negotiating teams for the peace talks on Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile Tuesday have engaged in separate consultative meetings with the African mediation and international envoys ahead of the direct talks.
The government negotiating teams for the talks on the Two Areas and Darfur have held consultative meeting with the United States Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan and the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP) ahead of the direct talks with the SPLM-N and Darfur groups.
Head of the government delegation for the Two Areas track, Presidential aide Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid said they discussed with the AUHIP the agenda of talks including the cessation of hostilities and the ceasefire and the security and political arrangements.
“We expect [the meeting with the SPLM-N] would set timetables and to immediately begin the security and political arrangements in the Two Areas and to establish a committee to monitor the synchronized implementation on the two tracks,” he said.
He added that the Roadmap provided that the Sudan Call groups meet with the dialogue body known as 7+7 to determine the procedures allowing opposition forces to join the national dialogue to reach a national document determining the strategic interests of the Sudanese state.
For his part, head of the government delegation for Darfur track Amin Hassan Omer said the consultative meeting with the American envoy discussed ways “to move things forward”, pointing they want to see practical moves “to implement the roadmap step by step”.
He added that Booth conveyed to them issues of concern to the opposition side, saying we briefed him on our opinion on these issues.
“We came [to Addis Ababa] in good faith to achieve the objectives of this round of talks. We seek to reach a cessation of hostilities that leads immediately to a ceasefire and a political process,” he said.
Omer further said that talks on the Two Areas and Darfur tracks would begin by a session on the cessation of hostilities and its connection to the ceasefire and the humanitarian arrangement.
For its part, Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N) negotiating team including chief negotiator Yasir Arman and his deputy Gagod Mukwar besides Ahmed al-Omda Badi,Ahmed Saeed, Bothaina Dinar and Mubarak Ardol held a consultative meeting on Tuesday morning.
According to the SPLM-N website, the meeting was also attended by several experts including Alim Abas, Abdel-Aziz Baraka Sakin, Osama Saeed, Khalid Omer and Ahmed Gasim besides some political and national figures including Ibrahim al-Sheikh, Nabil Adib and Abdel-Aziz Khalid.
(ST)