Sudan welcomes talks with eastern rebels, rejects Eritrea as venue

KHARTOUM, Mar 15, 2005 (Sudan Tribune) — The Secretary General of the ruling National Congress (NC), Ibrahim Ahmed Omer, has reiterated the government and party welcome to hold direct talks with the rebel groups in east Sudan.

Children from the nomadic tribe of the Rashaidas from eastern Sudan, they wait on a roadside with their parents for people to come buy their smuggled goods in Tesseney, western Eritrea. (AFP).

He ruled out the government’s acceptance of Asmara as a venue for such a meeting.

The British ambassador in Asmara has proposed an initiative to sponsor the talks between the government and the Beja Congress and the Free Lions in the Eritrean capital, Asmara.

The secretary-general of the Beja Congress, Abdallah Kunah, has disclosed that his organization and that of the Free Lions have accepted to go into peace negotiations with the government in the framework of the British initiative. He said that the talks will commence after the conclusion of the conference of the Beja Congress on 17 March.

During his visit to Eritrea two weeks ago, Jan Pronk, the UN secretary-general’s representative in Khartoum, has proposed holding of a general conference on the problems in east and west of the country after the formation of the a transitional government which will include the Sudan People Liberation Movement.

The government has already reached a peace agreement to end more than two decades of conflict with rebels in southern Sudan, a deal which analysts say could act as a model for ending the conflict in the western Darfur region and unrest in the east.

Like other Sudanese opposition groups, the Beja Congress says the Khartoum government has neglected the remote regions of the country in favour of the centre, which is the power base of the traditional ruling elite.