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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

SUDAN: Rebel leader to meet Sudanese vice-president

NAIROBI, 4 September 2003 (IRIN) - The leader of the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), John Garang, is to hold face-to-face talks with the vice-president of Sudan, Ali Osman Taha, in Kenya aimed at breaking the deadlock in peace talks.

"We have come fully prepared to resolve the issues," Garang told reporters in Nairobi before departing for Naivasha in the Rift Valley to begin the talks. "We are under pressure from the Sudanese people, they want peace and we want peace."

Garang, who is to meet Taha for the first time, said it was up to the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) mediators to decide how long the talks would last.

He reiterated that the key issues remained security arrangements, wealth and power sharing arrangements, and the issue of the presidency. He said the government currently had 100 percent power and 100 percent wealth in Sudan and the key question was how much it was willing to relinquish.

SPLM spokesman Samson Kwaje added that the movement was "ready and prepared to make tough decisions". The SPLM/A expected Taha to "have the courage to make the required decisions, to accept change and the inevitable transition to peace and democracy", he added.

Delegations from the SPLM and the government are due to restart peace negotiations on 10 September. Previous talks were adjourned on 23 August to allow both sides time for consolations.

Peace talks stalled in July when the Sudanese government team rejected a draft power-sharing document that had been put forward by IGAD, on the basis that it was unbalanced. They were restarted on 10 August and were adjourned after 13 days to allow both sides time for consultations.

Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict

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