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2013-04-18 Africa Horn
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Sudan rebels group say 'ready' for peace talks
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[Bangla Daily Star] Rebels in Sudan's South Kordofan state yesterday said they are ready to talk with the Sudanese government in Æthiopia next week over ending a two-year-long war.
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) told AFP that African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
mediator Thabo Mbeki
...former president of South Africa, succeeding Nelson Mandela. He now pops up periodically as a mediator when something catches fire in Africa...
had sent rebel chairman Malik Agar an invitation "for peace talks in Addis Ababa on the 23rd of April."
"We replied that we are ready," rebel front man Arnu Ngutulu Lodi said.
If the two sides meet face-to-face it would be the first direct talks in almost two years, Lodi said. The rebels and government have met indirectly through African Union mediators in a failed attempt
Curses! Foiled again!
to secure humanitarian access throughout the warzone.
But talk of peace came amid heavy fighting.
Rebels again shelled the state capital Kadugli on Wednesday, targeting what Lodi described as "military bases."
He said they also fired on a military outpost several kilometres (miles) east of the capital, where an ammunition storage facility went kaboom! .
"Today there is heavy fighting around Dandor," a garrison about 18 kilometres (11 miles) east of Kadugli which government forces were trying to retake after rebels seized it on Monday, Lodi said.
But army front man Sawarmi Khaled Saad told AFP his troops had "liberated" Dandor.
"In reaction to that, the rebels tried to create a disturbance in Kadugli, shelling the town," Sawarmi said.
Residents of the town could not be immediately reached.
Sudan's foreign ministry said three civilians died in rebel shelling of Kadugli during weekly prayers last Friday, as President Omar al-Bashir
Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it.
held talks in the South Sudanese capital Juba with his counterpart Salva Kiir in a symbol of easing tensions, particularly over the South's alleged support for SPLM-N.
Despite the attack on Kadugli, on Sunday the official SUNA news agency quoted Ibrahim Ghandour, head of the government's negotiating team, as saying his side was set and "waiting for the time of the negotiation."
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Posted by Fred 2013-04-18 00:00||
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