Opposition groups meet to coordinate peace proposals

Sudanese opposition leaders are meeting in Cairo in an attempt to agree on the best means of bringing peace to Sudan, news agencies reported. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), an umbrella organisation for the southern rebels and northern opposition groups, convened to discuss both an Egyptian-Libyan initiative and the recent peace efforts sponsored by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). AFP quoted NDA spokesman Hatim al-Sirr Ali as saying that, because of new developments in the civil war, the Cairo meeting was “the last chance to reach a concrete proposal for coordinating the two initiatives.”

Representatives from the various NDA components attending the meeting called on Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir to prove he wants peace, Associated Press (AP) said. “We appeal [to the government] to step up efforts to end this chain of violence and achieve a just peace that would consolidate our national unity,” AP quoted NDA leader Muhammad Uthman al-Mirghani as saying. Nhial Deng Nhial, representing SPLA leader John Garang, was quoted by AP as saying that Bashir was not serious about peace: “His only intention is to split the opposition movement and maintain his military power,” he said.