The Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North (SPLA-North) rebel group said they received another invitation from the African Union to attend informal talks in Addis Ababa.
The exact date for the unofficial talks is yet to be announced.
In a statement, Mubarak Ardol, the SPLA-N spokesman at last month’s negotiations, confirmed their commitment to participate in the proposed talks with the Khartoum government.
Bashir’s government recently applauded what it termed as “a rapprochement of viewpoints” between the two parties during a previous round of talks.
South Sudan offers to mediate
Separately, South Sudan’s Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said his country is ready to mediate between the Sudanese government and the SPLA-N.
Marial told Radio Tamazuj in an interview that President Salva Kiir previously asked Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir to allow the South to mediate in an attempt to find an amicable solution to the ongoing conflict in the South Kordofan and Blue Nile regions, but Bashir has yet to respond.
“As government, we are ready to mediate between the Sudanese government and the SPLA-North. We cannot deny that those people were part of us, so I can say we can help Khartoum in that,” he said.
File photo: Omer Suleiman (L), Sudanese government deputy chief negotiator, and Yasir Arman (R), SPLM-N top negotiator, Addis Ababa, 2 March 2014 (AUHIP)