Consultations on Sudan’s Two Areas wrap up without breakthrough: SPLM-N Hilu
November 1, 2018 (KHARTOUM) – The consultations meeting between the Sudanese government and the People’s Liberation Movement-North led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu (SPLM-N al-Hilu) over the resumption of peace talks wrapped up Thursday without any breakthrough.
Upon an invitation by the African Union High-Level Implementation Mechanism, the Sudanese government and the SPLM-N al-Hilu held a series of meetings in Addis Ababa and Johannesburg from 19 to 30 October 2018.
During these meetings, the AUHIP proposed to agree on three documents: the draft Framework Agreement for 2014, the draft Agreement on the cessation of hostilities for humanitarian purposes, and the Roadmap Agreement of 2016 as the mediation consider to amend it to move directly to the constitutional conference after the conclusion of a peace agreement.
In a statement released after the end of the consultations, the SPLM-N al-Hilu secretary-general Amar Amun said they two sides failed to find common grounds on the resumption of the peace talks.
“As each side stuck to its positions, the gap between the two sides remains large,” he said.
The rebel official said they rejected discussions on the three documents which did not lead to any progress in the previous 18 rounds.
“Also, the SPLM is not interested in the output of the National Dialogue because it has not participated in it. So it will not be part of the constitutional dialogue, which is one of the results of the National Dialogue (Conference),” he said.
Instead, the rebel group proposed to discuss the political file first, to be followed by the humanitarian issue and discuss the security arrangements and the ceasefire agreement once the two first files are settled, the SPLM-N al-Hilu said.
In addition, the SPLM-N proposed to include what would be agreed by the parties to the Sudanese constitution ulteriorly.
The Sudanese government for its sides did not yet issue a statement on the meetings which had been kept secret despite the anonymous statements by the Sudanese officials.
But Amun said the government rejected their positions and said committed to the outcome of the previous rounds.
He also said the government delegation made it clear that talks should be limited to the issue of the Two Areas and rejected any discussions on the national issues which should be discussed on the national dialogue.
(ST)