Khartoum, the rebels exchange accusations over violating the truce

Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has renewed his persistence to excluding the east of Sudan from the current negotiation process with the southern rebels movement in Mashakos, at a time when Sudan has stated that militias that are linked to the main groups of the rebels committed new violations coincided with the peace talks, by attacking two towns in the southern part of the country.

Bashir who is visiting Switzerland said in a statement to the BBC that the "war taking place in eastern Sudan is with Eritrea and not with the Sudanese opposition." He added that the authorization given to IGAD to mediate for establishing peace is limited to southern Sudan and that the joint Egyptian- Libyan initiative is intended to settle other problems.

Bashir, on the other hand, accused the US Congress of encouraging the war against his country. He described the recent law passed by the US Congress concerning Sudan as "unbalanced and biased completely to the rebel movement " and encouraging it not to negotiate.

Meantime, Khartoum said that militias linked to the main groups of the Sudanese rebels committed new violations concerning the truce. It added that it conveyed this violation to the mediators at Mashakos talks after a militia linked to the Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA) attacked Kutch and Tourkin towns in the western province of Upper Nile, controlled by pro government's militias.

However, the SPLA denied these accusations, saying that the government attacked many of its position on Thursday, and it was presumed that the truce, the first of its kind on that war which started 19 years, will continue during the talks which will last for 5 weeks and can be extended until the end of the year if there is a need for that.