Decisive meeting between Garang and Sudanese vice president
Sudan, Politics, 9/5/2003

Leader of southern rebels in Sudan, John Garang, said yesterday that he will hold a meeting which he described as "important" with the first deputy of the Sudanese President Ali Othman Muhammad Taha to prevent the collapse of the peace talks between with the Sudanese government.

Garang said upon his arrival in Nairobi yesterday that the two sides "negotiated long enough and it is time to solve the Sudanese crisis." The negotiations, however, will be resumed in Kenya on Wednesday.

Garang said that time is ripe to take "difficult decisions" and that he is ready for that and is authorized for it by the governing council of the SPLA (rebels). He added that signing such an agreement "relies on what the other side can give up," noting that there are certain things "in the bag of the vice president."

The Sudanese daily al-Sahafa said yesterday that Egyptian, Kenyan and American efforts resulted in arranging the meeting between Garang and Taha since last Tuesday.

Meantime, the Sudanese government yesterday signed an agreement with the Sudanese liberation army leader ( rebels movement in Dar Four to the west of Sudan). The Sudanese media said that the agreement was signed late Wednesday evening in Abitche town in Chad.

The secretary of the Sudanese liberation army Meni Minawi said the two sides held talks at the mediation of the government of Chad under the supervision of Idriss Deby for five days before signing the agreement.

Minawi said that the agreement covered halting fighting, releasing all prisoners and an agreement to make peace talks to start following an initial truce period of 45 days.

The Sudanese daily al-Rai al-Am issued part of the agreement yesterday and said it includes an official recognition, the first of its kind by the Sudanese government of the "Sudanese liberation army, the movement which Khartoum until then refuses to recognize." A member in Chad's delegation to the talks said that the ceasefire will be reinforced as from September 6th. Garang welcomed the agreements saying "we have always urged the government in Sudan to take it for granted that the problem in west Sudan is political rather than armed control."

The movement has emerged by the beginning of this year as an armed opposition movement, said that its objective is to force the government to develop Dar Four area which has been witnessing since years a security disorder because of armed looting and tribal conflicts.

Previous Stories:
  Garang, Taha seek to give push forward the Sudanese peace talks   (9/4/2003)
  Secret negotiations in Chad between Khartoum and Dar Four rebellions   (9/3/2003)
  Maher in Khartoum: we reject to be just an observer   (9/2/2003)

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