The twelfth round of talks between the Sudanese government and Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North rebels is scheduled to take place in Germany on Friday.
Sudanese Minister of Information Ahmed Bilal Osman told Radio Tamazuj the new round of talks will last 15 to 17 January and focus on ceasefire, humanitarian access, and how the SPLA-N can join the ongoing National Dialogue.
“For our part, we are ready,” he said.
Bilal said preparatory consultations will be carried out at a later stage in coordination with the Dialogue coordinating committee known as the “7+7”.
The anouncement comes after the two sides received invitations from the African mediation to start more informal talks in Addis Ababa.
Hussein Hamid, the spokesman for the government delegation at the talks, told the Sudanese Media Centre (SMC) Tuesday that the two sides were able previously to agree on 90% of a deal proposed by the African Union High Implementation Panel.
Darfur peace process in Paris
Separately, Bilal welcomed the ongoing political process for peace negotiations on Darfur, referring to a meeting between the Justice and Equality Movement and Sudan Liberation Movement with a Qatari mediator on Darfur peace in Paris on Monday.
“We welcome this initative from Qatar, I think through this track we can bring peace,” Bilal said.
The Sudanese Minister said any peace agreement on Darfur should be based on the 2001 Doha agreement, between the Khartoum government and the Liberation and Justice Movement in 2011.
The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) led by Jibril Ibrahim and the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-MM) led by Minni Arko Minnawi issued a joint statement on their meeting with the Qatari Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed bin Abdallah al-Mahmoud on Monday in Paris where they discussed ways to achieve peace in Darfur.
According to the statement, the two movements will provide a detailed paper to the Qatari mediation on the possibility of finding common ground for the peace process in Darfur as soon as possible.
The statement also pointed out that the meeting with the Qatari official was a response at the invitation from the two rebel groups for the purpose of peace.
In a separate in interview with France 24 news service, the JEM leader reiterated his position for a comprehensive solution starting from solving the problem of governance, rights and freedoms.
File photo: Ahmed Bilal