Sudanese opposition, government hold Cairo-mediated peace talks
CAIRO, Oct 22 (AFP) — Sudanese opposition groups and a government delegation on Friday held a first full day of peace talks in Cairo with both sides optimistic about a deal, sources close to the negotiations told Egypt’s MENA news agency.
The negotiations between the government and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), an umbrella organization for opposition groups from around Sudan, opened late Thursday under the auspices of Egypt.
Sudan’s federal government minister, Ali Nafie Ali, and the NDA vice chairman, Abdul Rahman Saeed, led their respective delegations at the talks mediated by Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.
The negotiators have formed four committees, including for constitutional and legal affairs as well as political and economic affairs, for the close-door negotiations.
“They (the discussions) should lead to the signing of an agreement” between the NDA and the Sudanese government, Saeed told AFP on the eve of the gathering.
“There is no set timeframe for the talks, which will last until a deal is finalized,” he said.
He added that the new round of talks would be aimed at finding a broad agreement with the government for the return from exile of the opposition alliance.
Ali told reporters in Khartoum before flying to Cairo that the government was “prepared to sign an agreement with the NDA on all the different issues,” adding that he was optimistic.
“All indications support that,” he added.
Talks between the two sides in August resulted in agreement on a 13-point agenda, which was expected to form the basis for the Cairo talks and includes constitutional and economic policy issues as well as plans for general elections.
Rebels from the Darfur-based Sudan Liberation Movement were to participate in the Cairo talks in their capacity as members of the NDA, but they had not arrived when the negotiations started.
Other groups attending the talks are the southern Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement (SPLM), the eastern Beja Congress and the Sudan Alliance Forces, whose leader, Abdul Aziz Khalid, was recently arrested in the United Arab Emirates.
He was detained on an international warrant issued by the Sudanese government.