The general secretary of the Sudan\u2019s People Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) is accusing the Sudanese government of refusing to negotiate with the rebels, adding this is \u201cthe typical continuation of non-committal behaviors of Khartoum”. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt 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\u201d, Yasir Arman, who is also chairman of the negotiation team, was quoted as saying in a statement from 12 March.<\/p>\n
He disclosed the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel on Sudan (AUHIP) notified the rebels a number of times in the past months that Khartoum had postponed their meetings.<\/p>\n
\u201cAllowing Khartoum to decide on the talks and to continue the behavior of non-committal [to the AU and UN resolutions] \u2026 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\u201d, according to Arman.<\/p>\n
The chairman suggested the continuation of the policies of Khartoum is resulting in significant displacement of civilians, noting that more than 70 percent of the Blue Nile population in rural areas was forced to cross the border to Ethiopia and South Sudan as refugees.<\/p>\n
These policies, he outlined, are using food as a weapon, denying access of humanitarian assistance to civilian populations and continuing ground and air attacks in Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains for the last three weeks. <\/p>\n
This is letting Khartoum \u201cbehave the same as they have been doing for the last ten years in Darfur, the last two years in Nuba Mountains and in Blue Nile committing more war crimes and genocide\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cReady for negotiations\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n Nevertheless, the chairman reinstated his movement is \u201cready to for direct negotiations with the NCP Khartoum government in accordance to the agenda set by the AUHIP\u201d.<\/p>\n Arman is also ready \u201cto reach an immediate humanitarian cessation of hostilities\u201d and he welcomed the agreement between Sudan and South Sudan on the demilitarized buffer zone.<\/p>\n Noting the SPLM-N controls \u201cmore than 40 percent\u201d of Sudan and South Sudan\u2019s shared borders, the head of the movement expressed his full commitment to cooperate with the monitors of the demilitarized buffer zone to achieve their goals. <\/p>\n \u201cMeanwhile, we appreciate the tireless efforts by the AUHIP to bring peace\u201d, he completed.<\/p>\n Photo: Yasir Arman, Chairperson of the SPLM-N Negotiation Team (Radio Dabanga file)<\/em><\/p>\n