Sudan Talks Delayed After Attacks in Nuba Mountains
peace talks in Juba with Khartoum officials after military forces allegedly
bombed several areas in the region and killed a sheik on Tuesday. The group’s
leader said the sustained attack shows the Sudanese government's failure to
respect the cessation of hostilities agreement the parties signed last month.
Amar Amoua, SPLM-North’s Secretary General and spokesperson
for the group, told reporters in Juba Wednesday his group will not take part in
any peace talks until there is a full investigation into the attack. For the
last 10 days, Amoua said Sudanese government forces bombarded several areas of
the Nuba Mountains.
Amoua said SPLM-North will not return
to the bargaining table until their demands are met.
"Our coming back to negotiate on table is bound by government decision to clear
all these things. The government should withdraw its forces and stop from
gaining new ground by occupying new areas. We will not allow that and also we
need the government to release immediately the traders whom they have arrested
with all their property and hand them to SPLM/N authorities in Nuba Mountains,”
Amoua told South Sudan in Focus.
Amoua said Tuesday’s attack included 25 armed Land Cruisers that attacked
civilians in Kor Waral, a rebel-controlled area of the Nuba Mountains. He said
a local chief named Sheik Mahamed Afdal Fadil and one soldier were killed in
the area, while at least 10 people are missing.
"We are asking the government also to make thorough investigations into the
chief, who is been assassinated because he rejected passing of nomads in that
new road, which passes through farm lands,” Amoua told VOA.
The Sudanese government downplayed the accusations, blaming the attack on
cattle herders.
Mohammed Hassan Eltaishi, a spokesman representing the transitional Sudanese
government delegation at the peace talks in Juba, told reporters Tuesday that
the government has full knowledge of what he referred to as the "incident,” and
indicated military leaders were not involved in the attack.
"The incident happened at the context of local inhabitants who happen to be
herders attacking local merchants. Some fell victim and got captured and local
goods were confiscated. The government regrets and condemns in the strongest
terms these unfortunate events that keep happening in the area and in other
parts of the country,” said Eltaishi.
It is particularly troublesome that "the event” took place at a time when
people were entering peace talks, said Eltaishi, adding, "the country is united
for the cause of peace in Sudan.”
Eltaishi vowed the government would investigate the incident and hold those
responsible accountable.
Tutkew
Gatluak, South Sudan President Salva Kiir’s security advisor and a chief
mediator in the talks, called on Sudanese authorities to quickly launch an
investigation.
"We have received a report from the SPLM-North, led by Alhilu, because there is
an incident that happened in (the) Nuba Mountains. It is an unfortunate
incident. It is an environment of peace. We don’t want any situation from
both parties that interrupts the peace process,” said Gatluak.
Talks between the Sudan government and an alliance of more than a dozen rebel
groups headed by SPLM-North chairperson Abdelaziz Adam Alhilu was to begin on
Wednesday, according to mediators. The alliance includes the rebel group
Sudanese Revolutionary Front.
Before the announcement of the SPLM-N’s refusal to negotiate, mediators and
other observers including the African Union had already convened at Juba’s
Pyramid Hotel, the venue of the talks.
Jeremiah Kingsley, the African Union ambassador to South Sudan, offered his
assurances of support to regional leaders for the Sudan talks.
"We are grateful that the parties have agreed to come here to begin talking. It
is not going to be easy; we can only call up on them to fine each other. It is
in the interest the Sudanese people who have suffered a great deal. They should
put the interest of the people first,” Kingsley told South Sudan in Focus.
On Monday, Alhilu said the African Union held 22 rounds of peace talks between
the Sudanese government and the rebels but the two sides had failed to address
the root causes of the problem.
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