Dr Ibrahim Ghandour, the head of the Sudanese government delegation for the Addis Ababa peace negotiations on South Kordofan and the Blue Nile, refused to include representatives of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) on Monday.
Dr Ibrahim Ghandour said that the UN mandate and the African Union mediation team have determined that the negotiations are to be held between the delegations of the government and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N). “There is no room to open the Addis Ababa platform for dialogue on any other issues.”
The SRF, a formal coalition of Sudanese armed movements and opposition groups, called Ghandour’s refusal to negotiate with the Front “the biggest proof for the government's rejection of a comprehensive solution as advocated by the SRF and the Sudanese political opposition forces”.
Jibril Adam Bilal, spokesman for the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), told Radio Dabanga that Ghandour’s words confirmed that the government is “still waffling, by talking about partial solutions”.
“Now the government has refused to negotiate with the SRF about a comprehensive political settlement stopping the destruction of the country, we have no choice but to proceed with the second option, which is toppling the regime.”
The SRF was established on 11 November 2011 by the leaders of four armed movements: the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the Sudan Liberation Movement, led by Abdel Wahid El Nur (SLM-AW), and the SLM faction under the command of Minni Minawi (SLM-MM).
They declared that they would overthrow the NCP regime by “all available means”. SPLM-N’s chairman Malik Agar was elected president of the SRF; the leaders of the other rebel movements are co-vice presidents.
The Beja Congress, an eastern Sudanese armed opposition group,andnbsp;joined the SRF four days later. On 2 October 2013, the eastern Sudan’s United People's Front for Liberation and Justiceandnbsp;officially joined the coalition.
The SRF has close ties with the National Consensus Forces, an alliance of political opposition parties.
File photo:andnbsp;The head of the Sudanese government negotiating team, Ibrahim Gandour (R), speaks at the opening session of the peace talks aimed at ending the war in South Kordofan and the Blue Nile, in Addis Ababa on 13 February 2014. SPLM’s delegation leader, Yasir Arman, appears at the left of the table, while the mediators and UN envoy are pictured in the middle. (AUHIP)