Choose comprehensive peace or comprehensive war: SPLA rebels
ASMARA, Oct 4 (AFP) — Southern Sudanese rebels warned that the only alternative to a comprehensive peace deal is “comprehensive war”.
Yasir Arman, spokesman for the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) made this declaration just three days ahead of the last round of peace talks in Kenya between the Sudanese government and the SPLA, during an interview with an AFP journalist.
“The alternative to a comprehensive peace settlement is comprehensive war,” if peace talks between the SPLA and Khartoum fail, he warned in Asmara.
“We prefer to finalize the peace agreement,” he added. “We are hopeful that this time the government (Khartoum) will have the political will to finalize the deal.”
The SPLA, led by John Garang, and Khartoum are in the final stage of the Naivasha (Kenya) peace process, whose aim is to put an end to a civil war that started in 1983, and which has killed nearly one and a half million people.
The peace talks are scheduled to last three days, “but the SPLA is ready to give more time to reach a final deal, and expects the same from the government”.
The deal “was supposed to have been finished a long time ago but the government was trying to buy time,” said the SPLA spokesman.
“We have resolved the substantial issues, what remains is technical.”
“If we reach a deal in Naivasha, it will impact positively on Darfur,” in Western Sudan where rebels are currently fighting against the government.
But if an agreement is not reached, “it will have very grave consequences on the Sudanese situation, and many people see that Sudan is on the verge of collapsing”.
Yasir Arman repeated that the SPLA has “political relations with the Darfur rebels but no military relations”.
Libya is to host an African mini-summit on Sudan’s Darfur crisis later this month, with Chad, Egypt and Nigeria also taking part, Egyptian presidential spokesman Maged Abdel Fattah announced Monday.
“The mini-summit on Darfur will be held under the auspices of Nigeria in its capacity as president of the African Union (AU),” he told reporters.
A peace settlement between the SPLA and Khartoum will also be the “biggest step in the normalization of relations between Sudan and Eritrea,” Arman added.
Currently, relations between Sudan and Eritrea are strained: Khartoum accuses Asmara of supporting Sudanese rebels in Darfur, a claim which the Eritrean authorities reject.
Arman added that John Garang had a meeting with Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki on Friday. “President Isaias expressed his full support for a peace settlement,” between the SPLA and Khartoum, insisted Arman.
Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir said Sunday he was ready to sign a peace deal with southern rebels and that he did not want to govern the country alone.