Conditions given for new talks

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) said a fresh round of talks with the government could only be held if certain conditions were met. SPLA spokesman, Samson Kwaje, told IRIN that the conditions included the release of all political prisoners, the lifting of the state of emergency, and the suspension of clauses in the 1998 constitution relating to Islamic Sharia. Other conditions include the lifting of the Public Securities Act, and removing the ban on political parties, Kwaje told IRIN.

The southern-based SPLA and the NDA - which brings together northern opposition groups - have set the conditions in relation to talks proposed by an Egyptian-Libyan peace initiative. Kwaje said the new initiative did not involve the Inter-Governmental Authority of Development (IGAD), which held the last round of unsuccessful talks.

A government official, Mohamed Dirdiery, said the conditions were new, and had not been raised in previous talks brokered by IGAD. He told IRIN the government would prefer to merge the two processes, and have “one peace initiative that would encompass both the northern opposition and the south.”