Sudan peace talks resume with removal of al-Atabani from his post

Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir removed from the peace negotiations his advisor for peace affairs, Ghazi Salah Eddine al-Atbani, from his post "at his own request."

This was under news that said that al-Atabani had been increasingly marginalized ever since the Sudan’s (First) Vice-President, Ali Othman Muhammad Taha resumed a direct role in the talks as from the first of September.

The Sudanese news agency said that Bashir issued "a decree in which he exempted Ghazi Salah Eddine al-Atabani from his post at his request." The agency did not explain the reasons behind the decisions which resulted in many predictions on the possibility that he will be angry because of assigning Taha the presidency of the governmental delegation in the previous round of negotiations with the rebels in Kenya. Al-Atabani was to have left Khartoum for Kenya yesterday to preside over the government's delegation in the new round of negotiations with the rebels to last five days, only to wait for the arrival of Taha and the leader of the people's front for the liberation of southern Sudan col. John Ganarg on December 5th.

However, in Nairobi, an official in the mediating delegation said that the mediators and the rebels resumed yesterday their negotiations before the arrival of representatives for the Sudanese government. In a statement, Lazaraos Simbayo said that "peace negotiations resumed and we are currently making consultations with the rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Army in Lokisho Geo."