Sudanese vice-president briefs Al-Bashir on peace talks

KHARTOUM, Dec 12, 2004 (Al-Ra’y al-Amm) — The first vice-president of the republic, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, arrived in Khartoum yesterday to hold consultations for 18 hours.

Soon on arrival, he briefed the president of the republic on the progress of the peace talks with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) in Naivasha Kenya, where he is expected to return tomorrow.

Al-Ra’y al-Amm learnt that, as soon as Taha arrived at the airport, he left straight away for President Al-Bashir’s residence at the Guest House and presented a report on the latest developments on the negotiations with the SPLM chairman, Dr John Garang.

In response to a question from Al-Ra’y al-Amm, the first vice-president said the talks were going on well at the level of the technical committees, adding that there were some issues which still required to be solved in the framework of the agreement, while some them needed to be assessed and evaluated in harmony with the nature of the agreement.

Taha expressed hope that a final agreement would be reached before the end of this year.

On his part, Al-Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmad, a member of the government negotiating delegation, said talks between Taha and Garang were adjourned from yesterday afternoon and would resume tomorrow, Monday 13 December.

Al-Dirdiri said the talks were adjourned after Garang asked for permission from Taha during their morning meeting to have their talks for yesterday afternoon and today suspended because of some commitments to hold some meetings in Nairobi.

Al-Dirdir further, it was then that Taha decided to use this opportunity and return to Khartoum and brief President Omar al-Bashir and other government officials on the progress of the peace talks with the SPLM.

Material from the BBC Monitoring Service