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Africa: Horn

Sudan to Resume Talks With Exiled Group

2005-06-06

Stalled peace negotiations between the Sudanese government and exiled opposition groups are to resume in Cairo next weekend and continue until a final deal is reached, officials said yesterday. Talks between the government and the opposition National Democratic Alliance will start next Saturday, Sudanese state radio quoted Ibrahim Ahmed Omar, secretary-general of the ruling National Congress party as saying. Omar also predicted that with many outstanding issues already resolved, an agreement could be signed a few days after the discussions commence, saying "the final agreement will be signed by the two sides on June 16." The NDA, a coalition of northern, southern, eastern and western opposition groups, including the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement, confirmed talks with the government would resume on June 11. "The discussions will start on Saturday," NDA vice president Abdul Rahman Saeed told AFP. But he did not share the government's optimism that a deal could be signed five days later, saying "it was possible, but not certain." Saeed explained that the talks will kick off with meetings aimed at reaching a deal on how to implement an initial agreement the two sides signed in January, particularly on political and military issues. "We have already agreed," he said, adding that the discussions will focus on "implementing what we have agreed upon."

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Africa: Horn

Opposition to Get Say in Constitution: Sudan

2005-04-24

Sudan's government and former rebels will allow other opposition parties a role in writing a new constitution, but the start of work has been delayed to allow for more talks, the ruling party said yesterday. The ruling National Congress Party and the former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement signed a peace deal in January to end more than two decades of civil war in Sudan's south. Under the deal a new government of national unity will be formed and wealth and power will be shared. The first task is to form a new interim constitution. The two parties had planned to hold at least a two-thirds majority in the constitutional commission, which is the percentage needed to make any decisions. But the NCP said they had compromised to give other parties a real say. "It will mean the two (parties) together will be less than two-thirds in the commission," Ibrahim Ahmed Omar, secretary-general of the NCP told Reuters. The peace deal allows for power sharing in government, giving the NCP 52 percent and the SPLM 28 percent of all posts. Northern opposition parties get 14 percent and non-SPLM southern forces six percent. But a special compromise was being negotiated for the constitution, an important national issue. Omar said the SPLM and NCP had given up 10 seats between them to have only 38 of the 60 seats in the constitutional commission, a little over 63 percent. It will allow opposition parties some say, if small, in the shaping of the constitution. The compromise is likely to appease those opposition parties still undecided about joining the constitutional commission after weeks of talks. A joint NCP-SPLM delegation is leaving this evening for Egypt for two days of talks with Sudan's main umbrella opposition group, which is hesitant about joining.

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Africa: Horn

Sudan Holds Fence-Mending Talks With Opposition

2005-04-08

Sudan's ruling National Congress has been holding rapprochement talks with the breakaway Popular Congress party of jailed leader Hassan Turabi, the opposition group said yesterday. Popular Congress number two Abdullah Hassan Ahmed told AFP he had met his counterpart from the ruling party, Ibrahim Ahmed Omar, on Wednesday and they had agreed to hold further talks. The meeting marked a sharp change in policy toward the Islamists by the increasingly isolated military-backed government in Khartoum, which last year rounded up much of the Popular Congress leadership on charges of taking part in an alleged coup. "Yes, I agree it could be a thaw," said Ahmed, who held a number of Cabinet posts, including finance minister, before the split between Turabi and President Omar Bashir in 1999. Ahmed told AFP the overture had come from the ruling party "apparently as part of a bid by the National Congress to consult political forces on current issues." He said the talks had focused on implementation of a landmark peace agreement which the government signed with the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement in January, ending two decades of civil war with the mainly Christian or animist south. He said he voiced "concern about the delay in implementing the agreement" which also provides for a new power-sharing government in Khartoum, involving not only the southern rebels but also other opposition groups. "But we are now optimistic after the meeting with Omar and another meeting on Wednesday with the visiting SPLM delegation, who said they were serious about implementation of the agreement," he said.

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Africa: Horn

Sudanese government sez intervention in Darfur will be met with force

2004-07-28

SUDAN warned yesterday it would use force against any attempt at outside military intervention in crisis-torn Darfur. Australia and New Zealand are considering a UN request for military personnel to join a mission there and Britain has said it could send 5000 troops. I don't think that's something Omar really wants to do... Ibrahim Ahmed Omar, secretary-general of the ruling National Congress Party, warned that force would be met by force. "Anybody who contemplates imposing his opinion by force will be confronted by force," he said. "Any power that intervenes in Darfur will be a loser." Not as big a loser as Khartoum, even if the power was the Phrench. Brits, Aussies, Merkins — hang it up. Go sit in your mosques and knit boom belts... Also yesterday, a group calling itself Mohammed's army called on Muslims to prepare to fight Western forces. "We call upon you to speedily head towards Darfur and dig deep into the ground mass graves prepared for the crusader army," the previously unknown group said. But a Darfur rebel movement in opposition to the Government called for a rapid deployment of international troops. The US Congress unanimously passed a resolution last week describing the atrocities committed in Darfur as genocide. Didn't defer to Kofi's opinion that it's... ummm... something else, huh? It called on the White House to lead international efforts to intervene. An official quoted Mr Omar as saying Sudan was capable of solving its own problems: "The National Congress firmly rejects any foreign threats targeting Sudan and its people and is opposed to any foreign intervention." "We have the right to kill as many of our citizens as we like, in whatever manner we please!" Khartoum has brushed off criticism it is not doing enough for Darfur people and pledged to improve the access of international aid agencies. But Abdel Wahed Mohammed Nur, spokesman for the rebel Sudan Liberation Army said: "We are asking the United States, the United Nations Secretary-General, the European Union and the African Union for the urgent deployment of troops in the coming days to ensure the delivery of food aid to millions of refugees."

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Africa: Horn

Sudan Questions Need for Foreign Troops in Darfur

2004-07-25

Sudan yesterday questioned the need for foreign troops in strife-torn Darfur, while a rebel movement called for their rapid deployment to combat the humanitarian crisis in the western Sudanese region. "We are asking the United States, the United Nations secretary general, the European Union and the African Union for the urgent deployment of troops in the coming days to ensure the delivery of food aid to millions of refugees," rebel spokesman Abdel Wahed Mohammed Nur said. Contacted by telephone, the spokesman of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) added that the intervention would "avert a humanitarian disaster of great proportions". But Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail, speaking to BBC television yesterday, dismissed the need for foreign intervention, saying his government was doing all it could to disarm Arab militias. "Why should we have to rush and to talk about military intervention as long as the situation is getting better?" Ismail asked. "My government is doing what can be done in order to disarm the militia." In Khartoum, the ruling National Congress party took opposition to foreign intervention a step further, with a threat to use force to counter it, a press report said yesterday. "Anybody who contemplates imposing his opinion by force will be confronted by force," NC Secretary-General Ibrahim Ahmed Omar said, quoted by the official Al-Anbaa daily.

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East/Subsaharan Africa

Sudanese government rejects idea of secular Khartoum

2003-06-01

KHARTOUM - Sudan's government has rejected a demand by the southern and northern opposition for the capital Khartoum to be ruled under secular rather than Islamic laws, an official said in remarks published Thursday. "Islamic Sharia laws in the national capital cannot be abrogated because the majority of its population that constitutes one-fifth of the country's population are Muslims," presidential peace Adviser Ghazi Salah Eddin Atabani was quoted by SUNA news agency as saying. That's why no peace agreement is going to work in Sudan... The status of the capital "has already been resolved in the Machakos agreement which provided for application of Islamic Sharia in the north and Khartoum is part of the north," Atabani said. He was referring to an appeal for a secular capital made by three opposition leaders — Mohamed Osman al-Mirghani, John Garang and Sadeq al-Mahdi — in Cairo on Saturday. Garang is the leader of the southern rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), which has been waging a 20-year war against the Islamist government in Khartoum. Mirghani and Mahdi head two northern opposition groups. "The status of the national capital cannot be reconsidered, otherwise the entire Machakos agreement will be reconsidered," Atabani warned. The ruling National Congress (NC) party issued a statement reinforcing the government stand. "The exemption of the capital from Sharia, as suggested in the tripartite (opposition) meeting, is absolutely rejected and will hinder and take the peace process back to square one," NC secretary general Ibrahim Ahmed Omar was quoted by Al-Anbaa daily as saying.

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