Bashir urges negotiating teams to reach agreement "soon"

Sudanese President Umar Hassan al-Bashir has called on the negotiating teams at peace talks underway in Nanyuki, Kenya, to conduct the deliberations in an atmosphere of mutual trust and reach a final peace agreement soon, the Kenyan ministry of foreign affairs announced. The statement was issued on Thursday after Kenyan Foreign Minister Kalonzo Musyoka arrived home from a two-day visit to Egypt, during which he made a stopover in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum and held talks with Bashir. According to the statement, Bashir reiterated his "faith and trust" in the Kenya-led Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) initiative to restore peace in Sudan. Noting that the negotiations taking place in Nanyuki had reached a critical stage, the statement added that the Kenyan government was keen to see the peace initiative "bear fruit for the sake of stability and development in the region". The ministry statement was issued as the mediator in the talks, Gen Lazarus Sumbeiywo of Kenya, was reported to be holding separate meetings with the government and rebel teams in Nanyuki to get them back to the negotiation table, after the talks were postponed indefinitely on Monday. The two sides have reportedly failed to agree on an agenda for negotiations. Sudan analyst David Mozersky from the International Crisis Group (ICG) told IRIN on Friday if the Nanyuki talks ended without a breakthrough, "this does not mean that the process is dead, unless something drastic happens". "Instead, it means that the mediators and observers will re-group, and join together to push a new strategy," he said. "What is important is that the international community stays committed to the process, and applies pressure on both parties to keep the process moving forward, and prepares more significant incentives and pressures as the endgame draws near." He noted that the disagreement between the negotiating teams was centred around the Sudanese government's rejection of a draft document signed in July in the Kenyan town of Nakuru. "The SPLA [rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army] is demanding that the Nakuru draft remain the sole basis for any negotiations," Mozersky said. "The government has strongly rejected the draft, and is trying to find alternate ways of continuing the discussions, without formally accepting the draft." "The mediators are trying to find creative solutions that can somehow satisfy both parties, so that the substantive discussions can continue," he added. The peace talks resumed on 10 August after stalling in July because of the government's rejection of the draft accord. The Sudanese government said at the time that its opposition to the draft was unlikely to scuttle the peace process. Sudan's deputy ambassador to Kenya, Muhammad Ahmad Dirdeiry, told IRIN on 12 August that although his government had rejected the draft as a basis for negotiation, he was hopeful that the talks would result in a "more reasonable" draft.