SUDAN: Wary SPLM response to new "peace proposals"

The Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) on Monday reacted warily to reports from Khartoum of a new mediation effort by former vice-president Abel Alier. Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said Alier had met Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) leader John Garang in London and Uganda, and had also been in contact with the government, state radio reported on Saturday. Alier has also formulated peace proposals that reaffirm the principle self-determination and call for a two-year interim government before a referendum on unity or partition, according to media reports. Samson Kwaje, spokesman for the SPLM in Nairobi, said he had no knowledge of such mediation. "He (Alier) just came to touch base with us", Kwaje added. Commenting that a formal SPLM response to Alier's proposals had not yet been prepared, Kwaje said: "The IGAD (Inter-Governmental Authority for Development) peace process is really the only one we are comfortable with, but if they pass the proposals to IGAD we have no problem with that." Alier's mediation comes after Khartoum postponed the IGAD peace talks scheduled for 20 April in Nairobi, in order to give time for "additional consultations and preparations." His proposals call for the formation of an interim "Supreme Authority" to run Sudan, Reuters reported. This would consist of Sudan's president, the head of the SPLM - who is also to be interim governor in the south - and an equal number of representatives. The Sudanese government has not formally responded to the reported proposals but President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said on Sudanese TV at the weekend that Alier himself had proposed the mediation role and the government had accepted "because it could contribute to preparations for a meeting between the government and the rebel movement". On Saturday, Khartoum also "renewed its declaration of ceasefire at Bahr al-Ghazal till convocation of the coming peace talks in Nairobi" in order to "facilitate relief efforts" and alleviate food shortages in the region, the official news agency, SUNA, reported. With those Nairobi talks expected to be rescheduled for next month, Kenyan Foreign Minister Bonaya Godana, told IRIN: "We are disappointed that the last talks did not take place here as planned. We heard the explanation from Khartoum ... They have insisted they are still committed to talks and are just asking for postponement ... we have no option at this point but to see how we can assemble the parties concerned again". Meanwhile, the Middle East News Agency has reported that former president Jaafar al-Numayri is to visit Khartoum on 25 May for the first time in more than 14 years, when he will announce the formation of a new political party: The People's Toiling Forces. Alier was vice-president under al-Numayri, who has been based in Cairo since he was deposed in April 1985. In another development, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi met a delegation from the Sudanese opposition National Democratic Alliance in Tripoli on Sunday, the agency said. Former Sudanese Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi - whose government was overthrown in a coup by President Omar al-Bashir in 1989 - led the delegation. The agency gave no details of the meeting.