Sudan calls to resume peace talks on the Two Areas
August 4, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government negotiating team on the conflict in the Two Areas Friday has called for the need to resume talks before the end of the unilateral ceasefire in October.
Last July, the Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir issued a decree to extend the unilateral cessation of hostilities in war zones until October 2017.
The semi-official Sudan Media Center (SMC) Friday quoted a member of the government negotiating team on the conflict in the Two Areas, Abdel-Rahman Abu Median, as saying “we have been very patient with the [armed] movements but patience has a limit”.
He expected his delegation and the SPLM-N would sign an agreement according to the government declared position by the end of this year.
Abu Median expressed hope that the African Union would agree with the SPLM-N’s new leader Abdel-Aziz al-Hilu to resume the talks as soon as possible in order to end the suffering of the residents in the Two Areas.
He further expressed their readiness to resume talks at any time and place, saying “we seek to achieve peace provided that talks are based on what has been reached in the last round”.
Talks between the two sides for a cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access are stalled since last August. The SPLM-N demands to deliver 20% of the humanitarian assistance through a humanitarian corridor from Asosa, an Ethiopian border town.
But the government rejects the idea saying it is a breach of the state sovereignty and a manoeuvre from the rebels to bring arms and ammunition to their locked rebel-held areas in the Two Areas.
The SPLM-N last November declined an American proposal to transport humanitarian medical assistance directly to the civilians in the rebel-held areas in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan.
The SPLM-N is now divided into two factions: one in the Nuba Mountains led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu and the other in the White Nile State led by Malik Agar. The rift emerged several months ago over the right of self-determination and other organisational issues.
Observers say the split of the rebel movement complicates the peace process, as the two factions vowed to hold a general conference and to restructure the group before to resume talks with the government.
Also, the SPLM-N Agar says it is willing only to discuss a humanitarian agreement with the government and refuse to engage in a political process to end the conflict.
(ST)