Peace committee warning on press statements

The Libyan-Egyptian committee working on the Sudan peace initiative held its ninth meeting in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, on Sunday and Monday, 27 and 28 August, and said the positive response by Sudanese parties so far was “an encouragement to persevere for the achievement of further progress,” the Libyan news agency JANA reported on Tuesday. In a communique on the initiative, the committee also called on all the Sudanese parties to refrain from making press statements likely to hamper the committee’s efforts and the aim of establishing peace and stability in Sudan. Meanwhile, Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Uthman Isma’il told the official Sudanese news agency, SUNA, that President Hasan al-Bashir would be holding consultations on the peace issue in Sudan with Libyan leader Colonel Mu’ammar al-Qadhafi on the fringes of the 1 September anniversary celebrations of Qadhafi’s revolution in Libya. Isma’il said there were, as yet, no arrangements for meetings in Tripoli with Sudanese opposition elements, but that this did not mean that Khartoum refused to countenance them, the report added.