Government and traditional leaders in Blue Nile State’s Kurmuk Locality have expressed concern about the stalled peace talks between the Sudan government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North, calling for a more local focus at the talks.

Alab Balgader Yunis, a traditional leader, speaking to Radio Tamazuj said many citizens think the Blue Nile issue should be separated from the crises experienced in some other areas in Sudan and called for an end to the current conflict in the state.

He explained that many citizens in Kurmuk Locality support a disengagement of Blue Nile problem from other political questions. SPLA-N, however, which forms part of the umbrella coalition known as the Sudan Revolutionary Front, shares a political platform with the Darfur-based factions.

For his part, the Kurmuk Locality Commissioner Al Nur Mohamed, a member of the ruling National Congress Party, told Radio Tamazuj that the government had a recent meeting with the native administration in Kurmuk in which they discussed prospects for peace.

He echoed Yunis’ point, saying the participants called on the warring parties especially the SPLA-N to disengage Blue Nile issues and handle them separately, rather than aiming for holistic solutions to Sudan’s problems, which could hinder reaching a peace deal in the state.     

The native administration also called on the chairman of the African Union High Implementation Panel, Thabo Mbeki, to engage the two parties in peace talks so as to bring about peace in the state, according to the commissioner.

Last Tuesday, the mediator Mbeki announced at ten-day suspension of the direct negotiations between SPLA-N and the government, and presented the two sides with a position paper on political, humanitarian and security issues, for review by the negotiators’ principals.

Malik Agar, chairman of the SPLM-N, told Radio Dabanga in an interview Wednesday after the suspension of the talks that the movement’s position “was, and still is, a comprehensive solution.”

“A comprehensive solution is definitely the best for the Sudan crises. We are convinced that the armed conflicts in South Kordofan and the Blue Nile cannot be ended without solving all the crises in Sudan,” he said.

In another development, the Kurmuk commissioner said that about 123 Blue Nile families who previously sought refuge in Ethiopia have returned to Kurmuk town in good health.

File photo: A community leader from Blue Nile in Doro Camp, June 2012 (Radio Tamazuj)