Sudanese sides to resume Darfur talks from Dec 10: FM

KHARTOUM, Dec 4, 2004 (Xinhua) — Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Othman Ismail announced here Saturday that the government and the Darfur rebels will resume a new round of talks in Abuja on Dec. 10.

Members of Sudan’s delegation prepare for peace talks with rebels in Abuja, Nigeria October 27, 2004.

In a press statment, Ismail said the government delegation to the talks had been formed and all preparations and choices the delegation would take had been reviewed.

Concerning the peace talks between the government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPlA), Ismail said the government’s technical delegation went to Nairobi, Kenya in the fixed time on Nov. 25.

“No serious talks between the two sides that would tackle the pending issues till yesterday, or Friday,” added the minister.

He expressed his hope that the technical delegations of the two sides would succeed to limit the issues due to be discussed at the level of the leaders of the two delegations, Sudanese Vice President Ali Othman Taha and the SPLA leader Joha Garang.

The Sudanese News Agency (SUNA) reported Saturday that Taha would go to Nairobi on Sunday to resume the talks at the leadership level, with Garang on Dec. 6.

In their previous talks before the holy month of Ramadan, Taha and Garang handled most of the remaining issues of the peace process in the country’s south.

They agreed that a technical committee for cease-fire would continue the work to solve the remaining issues, such as the SPLA forces’ supply, the time of acquiring the other armed forces in the Sudanese military forces or the SPLA, as well as the procedures of implementation of the agreements and the international and regional guarantees.

In their declaration in Nairobi during the UN Security Council’s special session on Nov. 18, Taha and Garang signed an agreement committing them to sign the final peace agreement on the south by the end of this year.