Sudanese opposition to resume talks with Khartoum in Cairo

CAIRO, Oct 17 (AFP) — Talks between Sudan’s government and an umbrella opposition movement including a main Darfur rebel group are due to resume Thursday in Cairo, the grouping’s vice chairman told AFP.

“We are going to resume talks Thursday in Cairo and they should lead to the signing of an agreement” between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Sudanese government, Abdel Rahman Said said.

“There is no set timeframe for the talks, which will last until a deal is finalised,” the Cairo-based NDA vice chairman added.

The umbrella organisation includes southern rebels and Darfur’s Sudan Liberation Movement rebel group.

But the Cairo talks are separate from current attempts to defuse the crisis in Sudan’s western region of Darfur and peace negotiations between Khartoum and the rebels in the south of the country.

Said explained that Thursday’s new round of talks would be aimed at finding a broad agreement with the government for the return from exile of the opposition alliance.

Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, under the threat of international sanctions over the Darfur crisis, was meeting with regional leaders in Libya on Sunday in a bid to rekindle direct peace talks with the region’s rebels.

A previous round of Cairo talks in August resulted in agreement on a 13-point agenda, including constitutional and economic policy issues as well as plans for general elections.