African Union mediator Thabo Mbeki announced yesterday the suspension of the peace negotiations between the Sudanese government and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) on the ‘Two Areas’ of South Kordofan and Blue Nile.
Yasir Arman, Secretary-General of the SPLM-N said that the negotiations reached a deadlock because the government refused to discuss a number of issues the rebels insist on dealing with. The rebels seek “a comprehensive peaceful settlement,” while the government insists on restricting the talks to a cessation of hostilities and security arrangements.
Arman added that the next round may resume at the beginning of next year. “When Mbeki asked us for our opinion, Dr Ibrahim Ghandour, the head of the government delegation, said that he himself will not continue, because he will be in charge with his party’s preparations for the general elections scheduled for April next year. We replied that we will welcome any replacement to continue the negotiations.”
Referring to the indefinite adjournment of the separately-held peace talks on Darfur on 4 December, he stated that the “Khartoum regime is not interested in peace. It does not have a solution for the armed conflict in the Two Areas, except waging war and starving the inhabitants. The Sudanese government is not serious about a broad dialogue with the opposition.”
“The proposal for a National Dialogue was only done to buy time until the elections, in which, as we all know, Al Bashir will be re-elected.”
The rebel leader called on the Sudanese to support the Sudan Appeal, and “convert the document into mass action. A popular uprising should prevent the elections from taking place, and eliminate the one-party system in the country. A broad constitutional conference is to be organised, to agree on the establishment of a nation based on equal citizenship.”