Sudan peace talks on “verge of collapse”: rebel source
NAIROBI, Aug 15 (AFP) — Peace talks between the government of Sudan and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in Kenya are “deadlocked and on the verge of collapse”, a rebel source told AFP on Friday.
The source said talks had reached a stalemate after the Sudanese government refused to negotiate on the basis of a framework document drawn up by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an east African regional body.
“The government delegation has asked us to loosely choose any topics which could be discussed on a face-to-face basis, but not to refer to the IGAD draft document,” the source said.
The government delegation maintains that the document, rejected by the Khartoum government, should not be referred to in the talks.But the SPLA insists that the IGAD-approved text must be the basis for attempts to reach a settlement ending Sudan’s 20-year civil war.
“The draft document is the result of nine months of intensive negotiations with the IGAD mediators but the government delegation now wants it to be set aside, a condition the SPLA will not accept,” the rebel source told AFP by telephone from the talks in Nanyuki, central Kenya.
As the talks began on Sunday, Sudanese President Omar el-Beshir warned he would not sign an “unfair” peace agreement, and said he had “doubts” about the real intentions of SPLA leader John Garang.
Beshir said Khartoum would resort to other unspecified “options” should the deadlock persist.
“We are not going to sign any peace agreement that does not implement justice,” Beshir was quoted as saying.
Beshir has repeatedly cast doubt on the neutrality of the mediators from IGAD — whose members are Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda and Somalia — since the talks began, under the chairmanship of retired Kenyan army general Lazaro Sumbeiywo.
Issues still unresolved include power-sharing, the distribution of wealth, security arrangements and the future of three areas in the centre of the country where the rebels are active.
The SPLA claims it has the mandate to negotiate on behalf of the people of Abyei, the Nuba Mountains and Southern Blue Nile, while Khartoum claims it controls 90 percent of the three territories.
Failure to resolve any of these issues was responsible for the breakdown of the last round of talks in the Kenyan Rift Valley town of Nakuru in July. Khartoum has rejected a proposal that both the government and the SPLA maintain separate armies during a six-year transition period, saying this would amount to secession of the rebel south.
The SPLA has been fighting Khartoum forces since 1983 to end what it sees as the domination of the mainly Christian and animist people of the south by the Arab Muslim north, in a civil war that has claimed at least 1.5 million lives and displaced four million people.