Government and SPLM to resume talks in Ababa talks

Khartoum-Hussein Saad -The 6th round of peace talks between the government and the SPLM-North will begin in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on Tuesday under the patronage of the African mediation chaired by the former South African President Thabo Mbeki.
As the government has expected success of the coming round of talks in finding a solution to the crisis and reaching peace, the opposition affirmed failure of the talks unless the government delegation accepted the comprehensive solution.
Member of the government delegation Major General Markazo told the Citizen on Sunday that he is optimistic over the success of the coming round of peace talks if the SPLM-North committed to the references of negotiations and the mediation draft he described as covering all aspects of the issue in the two areas.
But head of the information committee in the national Consensus Forces and member of the central committee of the Sudanese Communist party Sideq Yousif has affirmed impossibility of reaching peace in the two areas during the coming session of talks unless the government delegation agreed on a comprehensive solution with the participation of arms holders in accordance with the President speech early this month.
Yousif said that the previous round of talks has failed due to the differences over stances between the two sides and to the statements of the head of the government delegation Ibrahim Ghandour that they are concerned with discussing the issue of the two areas alone.
Yousif said” if the government is serious, it has to declare cease fire and cancel freedom-restricting laws”.
On his part, political analyst Dr. Salah Al-Doma has agreed with Sideq Yousif with regard to the failure of the coming round of talks, saying that the two parties will sit to the negotiation table and present different agendas. He said that the National Congress wants a national government under his control with the participation of the rest parties and non-participation of the arms holders who have not signed any agreement. He said the National Congress wants continuity of the current constitution and to convocation of the coming elections as scheduled.
He stated that” the National Congress wants success of the talks according to his view”. He added that the SPLM prefers the comprehensive solution, establishment of transitional government with the participation of all and postponement of elections.
The differences between the two sides in the previous round of peace talks were a reason for the mediation to suspend the negotiation and to refer the file to the African Peace and Security Council.

The African Peace and Security Council has renewed , in a meeting to assess the progress of negotiation process, the mandate of Thabo Mbeki to continue the mediation between the two sides setting the end of current April as a deadline for reaching a settlement to the dispute.