Khartoum refuses to include the opposition in peace negotiations

The Sudanese ruling National Congress Party has supported its government's rejection to include groups from the opposition coalition in the next round of negotiations the government will have with the rebels movement.

Meantime, meetings of the leading commission of the opposition coalition started on Monday in Asmara, in the presence of the chairman of the coalition Muhammad Othman al-Meirghani, the chairman of the Sudan People Liberation movement John Garang, and representatives for the opposition groups outside Sudan.

The secretary general of the National Congress Party, Ibrahim Omar, in press statements called on the leadership of the opposition coalition meeting in Asmara to set a clear vision on the question of peace. He expressed his hope that the opposition will adopt a position that serves the peace process. For his part, the Sudanese minister of information and communications, Mahdi Ibrahim, who has just arrived to Khartoum from a mission he was delegated to by President al-Bashir to Egypt and Libya, called for the release of the political detainees, especially the leader of the opposition People's Congress party, Hassan al-Turabi, because of the elimination of what he called security (threat) conditions.