NAIROBI, 11 May 2003 — Sudan’s warring factions started a final phase of face-to-face peace talks yesterday, and mediators said tough negotiations lay ahead if both parties wanted an end to two decades of war. Government and rebel representatives began discussing the sharing of power and the country’s resources during a fifth round of their tortuous peace talks, mediators said. The talks between Khartoum and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-Army (SPLM-A) were taking place in the southern Kenyan town of Machakos, where several previous rounds of negotiations were held last year.
Whereas previous rounds of talks have dealt with each issue in turn, this time mediators introduced what they described as a “totality approach” to provide new impetus, meaning that all issues will be dealt with at the same time. A previous 10-day round of talks held in Nairobi last month ended without settling the key issue of military security arrangements during a six-year transition period. A protocol signed in Machakos last July provided for the six-year period of autonomy for the SPLM-A-controlled south ahead of a referendum to decide whether the south would secede or be granted more autonomy.
Chief mediator, retired Kenyan Army Gen. Lazaro Sumbeiywo, said the current round would also address the issues of security arrangements and disputed territories in a newly-adopted “totality approach” to the negotiations. “In this way, parties will be addressing and resolving all outstanding issues in our overall agenda with the aim of reaching a final comprehensive peace agreement,” Sumbeiywo said in opening remarks. During previous rounds, negotiators discussed a single topic at a time.
SPLM-A head of delegation Nhial Deng Nhial accused Khartoum of attacking and displacing civilians in the Western Upper Nile state in breach of last October’s truce agreement.
“The GOS (government of Sudan) has violated the letter and spirit of the MOU (memorandum of understanding on cessation of hostilities) particularly in the Western Upper Nile where it has continued to attack and displace the civil population in the whole region in order to pave the way for oil exploitation,” said Nhial Deng.
