Another quick breakthrough needed

Photo credit: alrakoba

Both the international and local communities hold high expectations for the talks between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), to be held in the coming days in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.

The proposed negotiations will be first since talks were suspended when the government rejected the 2011 Nafie-Agar deal later that year, but these negotiations will be judged on the basis of the professed willingness of the two parties to turn over a new leaf; because reason alone and not arms can resolve their dispute.

The United Nation welcomed the decision by the Government of Sudan and SPLM-N to meet for direct talks, adding that it hoped the meeting will lead to an immediate cessation of hostilities to allow the safe delivery of humanitarian assistance and create a conducive atmosphere for political discussions to address the root causes of the conflict.

However, it is difficult to contemplate reasonable progress to build upon to be achieved in this round, unless final agreement is reached on the fundamental issue of the relationship between the SPLM-N and the government of South Sudan.

This complicated issue cannot be resolved unless there is strong willingness on both sides.

But now, with these new positive developments, the goal may seem within reach. Defense minister, Abdel-Rahim Mohammed Hussein, was quoted last week as saying that his government received a fresh letter from South Sudanese president, Salva Kiir confirming disengagement with SPLM-N in the South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

The cooperation agreement with South Sudan, the minister stressed, paves way for negotiations between Sudan and the SPLM-N rebels, while confirming Khartoum's new position that it is "ready to negotiate with the SPLM-N";  but only on the basis of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

Hopefully, within the context of this positive momentum, some features of the solution may be found in the 2011 Nafie-Agar deal, as many officials from the government itself implied by stating that the deal is not totally rejected.

We look forward to a quick breakthrough in the first round of negotiations to reach an immediate end to the two-year conflict and allow access for delivery of humanitarian assistance to those affected in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, while  avoiding potentially negative impact on the freshly signed implementation matrix agreed with South Sudan.