Sudanese rebels reject government conditions on peace talks resumption

NAIROBI, Aug 8 (AFP) — The southern Sudan rebel movement said Friday it will not accept a government demand that a draft peace accord be modified before talks resume in Kenya, and accused Khartoum of stalling negotiations.

Sudan’s Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail told the Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram on Thursday that peace talks with the rebels will not resume as expected on Sunday unless the mediating African body modifies the draft accord.

But a spokesman for the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), Samson Kwaje, told AFP that any changes to the document must be discussed between the two parties.

“Our position is still that we adopt the Nakuru draft framework as the basis for negotiations,” said Kwaje.

“If there are any changes they have to be made as a result of negotiations between the SPLM and GoS (Government of Sudan),” he said, adding that the rebel movement will attend the talks expected to open in the central Kenyan town of Nanyuki on Sunday.

In the last round of talks with the SPLM/A in Nakuru, Kenya last month, the government rejected a draft accord prepared by mediators of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) on outstanding issues such as power- and wealth-sharing and security arrangements during a six-year transition period agreed last year.

Khartoum said the draft was a prelude to a secession of southern Sudan with a separate army and independent central bank during interim phase.

“Peace talks will resume if IGAD takes a new initiative providing for reasonable arrangements in the interim period,” said Ismail told Al-Ahram.

Kwaje said Khartoum was “putting obstacles to the peace process by giving preconditions.” “This is unacceptable,” he added.

In the Kenyan town of Machakos in July last year, Khartoum and the SPLA struck a breakthrough accord granting the south the right to self-determination after a six-year transition period and exempting the south from Islamic laws.

IGAD comprises the east African states of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda and, nominally, Somalia.

The SPLA has been fighting since 1983 to end domination of the mainly Christian and animist south by the Arab Muslim government in Khartoum.