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| Africa Horn |
| South Sudan ministers pull out of talks with US |
| 2008-05-28 |
| South Sudanese officials said on Tuesday they were pulling out of talks between Sudan and the United States, saying the negotiations could have emboldened northern soldiers to attack a disputed oil town. Tens of thousand of civilians fled the central town of Abyei last week during clashes between northern and southern troops, prompting fears of further conflict. Yaser Arman, deputy secretary general of the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), said all southern ministers would withdraw from talks with the U.S. special envoy to Sudan, Richard Williamson, due to start on Wednesday. "The SPLM has decided to suspend its participation in the Sudanese/American dialogue to normalise the relationship between Khartoum and Washington," Arman told Reuters. "This is as a result of the destruction of Abyei town and the displacement of 100,000 civilians." The SPLM's secretary general Pagan Amum on Monday told Reuters Sudan was on the brink of a fresh civil war following the clashes. Northern and southern officials have blamed each other for starting the fighting that left more than 20 northern soldiers and an unknown number of southerners dead. Both the north and the south claim Abyei, which is close to oilfields that produce up to a half of Sudan's daily 500,000-barrel output. The boundaries of the region were left undecided in a 2005 peace deal that ended two decades of north-south civil war. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 #1: Just my personal thought, but what happened was that the DOS POS there said "Yeah, yeah, but we gotta keep talking!" Posted by: Ptah||[http://www.crusaderwarcollege.org]|| When talk is the only "weapon" you have, you have a tendency to believe it's the only "weapon" needed. This is the same false premis that Obama endorses. That's why State does so many stupid things - it's the only way they can feel relevant. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2008-05-28 11:32 |
| #1 Just my personal thought, but what happened was that the DOS POS there said "Yeah, yeah, but we gotta keep talking!" |
| Posted by: Ptah 2008-05-28 08:34 |