إلـــى متــى؟

Quote: Khartoum Refused to Negotiate with the SPLM-N The UN Security Council Resolution 2046 and the latest directives of the African Union that came in the Africa Union Communiqué on January 25th of the Peace and Security Council 353rd Meeting at the Level of the Head of State and Government directed the AUHIP to hold talks between the SPLM-N and the Sudan government at the latest by February 15th. On the 14th of February, the SPLM-N received an invitation from the AUHIP to convene in Addis Ababa on March 5th and the SPLM-N delegation was ready to travel to Addis on the 4th of March. The SPLM-N was notified by the AUHIP that the talks were postponed until March 10th. On the 9th, the SPLM-N delegation was ready to arrive at Addis Ababa and no arrangements were made to convene the talks until the evening of March 10th when we received a message from the AUHIP that the talks were not going to take place until further notice. It was an open secret that Khartoum put new conditions and they said openly that they are not ready to negotiate directly with the SPLM-N and that is the typical continuation of non-committal behaviors of Khartoum concerning UNSC Resolution 2046 and the subsequent African Union resolutions. It is the continuation of the policy of Khartoum to use food as a weapon and to deny access of humanitarian assistance to the civilian populations and to continue the ground and air attacks in Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains as we are witnessing the massive military campaign by Khartoum in the rural areas of Blue Nile for the last three weeks, which is resulting in more significant displacement of the civilian population in the Blue Nile where more than 70% of the inhabitants of the rural areas are forced to cross the border to Ethiopia and South Sudan as refugees. More than 170,000 of the civilian population of Blue Nile are refugees. Allowing Khartoum to decide on the talks and to continue the behavior of non-committal to the African Union resolutions and UNSC Resolution 2046 and denying access of humanitarian assistance to the civilian populations and lack of respect to the date set by the AUHIP will only result in more suffering of the civilian populations, and it is upon those institutions who took those decisions to look into how to implement them. This attitude is victimizing the civilian populations in Blue Nile, Nuba Mountains and Darfur and allowing the Khartoum government to behave the same as they have been doing for the last ten years in Darfur and the last two years in Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile committing more war crimes and genocide. The SPLM-N wants to restate the following: 1) We are ready for direct negotiations with the NCP Khartoum government in accordance to the agenda set by the AUHIP. 2) We are ever ready to reach an immediate humanitarian cessation of hostilities as both parties were asked by the African Union and UN Security Council as stated in UNSC Resolution 2046. 3) The SPLM-N welcomes the agreement between the Sudan government and the South Sudan government on the demilitarized buffer zone. As the SPLM-N is controlling more than 40% of the international border from the northern side of the Republic of Sudan, the SPLM-N is fully ready and committed to carrying out all the necessary consultations with the AUHIP and the United Nations to insure full cooperation with the monitors and for the demilitarized buffer zone to achieve its goals. Meanwhile, we appreciate the tireless efforts by the AUHIP to bring peace. We urge the mediation to decide on the issues that are related to the talks in consultation with both parties to the conflict, not only with one party, in any future arrangements. Yasir Arman Chairperson of the SPLM-N Negotiation Team March 12, 2013