The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) has blamed the Sudanese government for the latest breakdown of the talks on the ‘Two Areas,’ accusing the government of indifference in reaching a comprehensive solution to the conflict.
Khartoum last week announced acceptance of the draft framework agreement proposed by the mediation, the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel, which is headed by Thabo Mbeki.
AUHIP handed a proposal to the negotiators on 18 February and asked them to take a break from the talks and return to their principals to study the proposal.
Mbeki’s proposal is said to have included terms for a cease hostilities, delivery of humanitarian to rebel-areas, and limitation of political talks to the state-level, addressing Blue Nile and South Kordofan only, not the broader national concerns of the Sudan Revolutionary Front, of which SPLA-N is a part.
Ibrahim Ghandour, Sudan’s chief negotiator, told reporters after meeting President Omar al Bashir last week in Khartoum that the government would accept the proposed agreement ‘without reservation.’
SPLM-N, on the other hand, “presented a fundamentally different proposal, which rendered an agreement unattainable,” the mediation disclosed in a statement Sunday.
In the same statement, Mbeki and his team announced they would effectively leave the talks, saying, “The Panel is of the view that as matters stand, it is impossible to bridge the chasm between the Parties and will therefore refer the matter back to its mandating principal, the AUPSC, for further guidance.”
“Nevertheless, the Panel called on the two Parties to continue to negotiate between themselves to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict,” added the statement.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Sunday, Sila Musa Kanjo, a member of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North at the peace negotiations in Addis Ababa said the mediators listened to the positions of the two parties but finally urged them to resolve their differences among themselves.
“In a meeting they told both of us clearly that the issue is purely Sudanese therefore you are the ones to find a solution to it,” he said, adding that they nonetheless expressed readiness to step in to exert efforts in case of any setbacks or breakthroughs.
In further remarks, Musa also questioned the absence on Sunday of the government chief negotiator, Ibrahim Ghandour.
Photo: Omer Suleiman (L), Sudanese government deputy chief negotiator, and Yasir Arman (R), SPLM-N top negotiator, Addis Ababa, 2 March 2014 (AUHIP)