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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

SUDAN: Government considering date for resumption of peace talks

NAIROBI, 23 July 2003 (IRIN) - The government of Sudan is considering a date for the resumption of postponed peace talks with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A).

"We are still consulting on that," Sudan's deputy ambassador to Kenya, Muhammad Ahmad Dirdeiry, told IRIN. He said a decision would be made before 3 August, which the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) mediators have suggested as a starting date. The talks were originally scheduled to restart on Wednesday.

The SPLM/A spokesman, Samson Kwaje, told IRIN the rebel group was ready for talks on 3 August, and that it would discuss "nothing" but the agreement presented to both sides by the mediators at the last session of talks. "We should go back to the negotiating table and discuss the same draft agreement from Nakuru," he said.

The latest session of talks came to a standstill on 12 July when the government delegation accused the mediators of taking sides with the SPLM/A in the draft framework agreement, which it was hoped would lead to a final national agreement.

The contentious issues include the religious status of the capital, whether the SPLA should be absorbed into the national army or remain separate, and whether the country will be run by separate administrations - northern and southern - during the interim period.

"By giving southern Sudan 50 percent of the oil revenues, the vice-presidency, 38 percent of the council of states, and a third of parliament, the IGAD document has not left much to other groups," Dirdeiry said in an interview with The EastAfrican newspaper. "But considering that southern Sudanese represent between 20 and 25 percent of the population, this means that if the document is endorsed, the region would benefit at the expense of other regions."

"The only way out is to throw out the IGAD document, get back to the Machakos Protocol and base the drawing up of a peace agreement on it," he said.

The head of the SPLM/A, John Garang, reiterated on Wednesday on Kenyan Television that it was time to reach a political agreement. "What is the alternative if they reject the document? The alternative is to go back to war. And absolutely that is a bad alternative," he said.

Despite the impasse, the government on Monday reaffirmed its support for the Kenyan-led IGAD mediation process, stating that it was "capable of achieving peace" in Sudan.

Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict, (IRIN) Governance

[ENDS]

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