August 10, 2012 (KHARTOUM) — Yasir Arman, Secretary General of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement - North (SPLM-N) reiterated his movement’s demand for comprehensive talks saying they seek to establish a broad political formation similar to the African National Party (ANC).

A woman holds a poster of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) presidential candidate Yasir Arman at Khartoum airport January 21, 2010 (Reuters)

The SPLM-N and the Sudanese government reached last week a humanitarian agreement aiming to reach needy civilians in the rebel held areas in South Kordofan and Blue Nile. The African Union mediation acting under UN resolution 2046 prepares to resume political talks after achieving this positive step.

The first round of indirect political negotiations was suspended as the positions of the two parties were deeply different. Khartoum rejected SPLM-N demands for a comprehensive process including Darfur issue and to implement some dispositions included in the 28 framework agreement like: lift of a ban on the party’s activities, release of SPLM-N political prisoners and reinstatement of it chairman Malik Agar as Blue Nile governor.

SPLM-N leads an alliance forged with Darfur rebel groups and wanrs to include them in any negotiations with the regime. The group also believes that Khartoum is not serious in its commitment to a political settlement on the issues of the two areas (Blue Nile and South Kordofan). The rebels says Khartoum aims to separate them from their allies of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) with which they aim to re-found Sudan.

"We seek and we are working to gather the Revolutionary Front and a number of its organisations, that wish to do so, in a movement similar of the African National Congress of South Africa, taking into account the situation in Sudan", Arman, said in a statement released on Saturday.

He further said they will turn the SRF into a big electoral body unifying the "forces of the peripheral regions and the democratic forces" and also to gather the "armed groups and the uprising forces".

"This is one of our goals in the current opposition process, which must lead to end the war and to establish sustainable peace and democracy in the State of Sudanese citizenship," he stressed.

Speaking in a radio show Kamal Obeild the head of the Sudanese government negotiating team with the SPLM-N said he was very pessimist about the fate of the current process with the rebel group.

He went further to say that Yasir Arman is not welcome in the talks unless he change his "intransigent positions which create tensions."

"The government has a strong experience with a Sudanese people who refuse to repeat the experience of Naivasha. Also, the partnership is undesirable with people who have failed to prove their good intentions, " Kamal added.

The top negotiator was alluding to the SPLM-N demand for a comprehensive process. Also, the ruling party in Khartoum says they do not intend to repeat a mistake they committed in Naivasha, Kenya during the 2003-2005 process when they made a lot of concessions in the past to the SPLM.

The 28 June framework agreement provides to establish a political partnership between the NCP and the SPLM-N to resolve their crisis. But also once they reach an agreement over disputed issues they will work together to achieve peace in democracy in Sudan.

Kamal, disclosed that they will demand short time (some hours) ceasefire and will refuse any ceasefire that can last for several days because the rebel can use it to fortify their positions; adding this what Darfur rebels did after Abeche humanitarian ceasefire agreement signed with Darfur rebel groups in April 2004.

(ST)