CAIRO, 18 October 2004 — Talks between Sudan’s government and an umbrella opposition movement including a main Darfur rebel group are due to resume Thursday in Cairo, the grouping’s vice chairman told AFP.
“We are going to resume talks Thursday in Cairo and they should lead to the signing of an agreement” between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Sudanese government, Abdel Rahman Said said.
“There is no set timeframe for the talks, which will last until a deal is finalized,” the Cairo-based NDA vice chairman added. The umbrella organization includes southern rebels and Darfur’s Sudan Liberation Movement rebel group. Said explained that Thursday’s new round of talks would be aimed at finding a broad agreement with the government for the return from exile of the opposition alliance.
Meanwhile, African foreign ministers meeting in Libya to discuss Darfur crisis said yesterday the Sudanese government and rebel leaders need to be pushed to find a solution to the bloody conflict.
The leaders of Sudan, Nigeria, Egypt, Chad were at the Libyan-hosted meeting to discuss ways to end the fighting and prepare for the resumption of African Union-sponsored peace talks this month. “It is necessary to put pressure on the two sides, the rebels and the government, because without ... pressure we cannot get any solutions,” Chad’s Foreign Minister Nagoum Yamassoum told Reuters in Tripoli.
