Khartoum accuses opposition of damaging peace

The government of the Republic of Sudan on Saturday blamed the anti-government force Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) as the ones who caused the failure of recent peace negotiations.

Earlier this month a Sudanese government delegation failed to uphold direct talks with SPLM-N representatives to stop hostilities between them in the Blue Nile state, South Kordofan state and Darfur area.

Their differences in the paths of humanitarian aid led to the failure of the negotiation.

The government proposed to deliver aid through internal pathways but the SPLM-N insisted accessing through external passageways.

Ibrahim Mahmoud, an assistant to the president of the Republic of Sudan, blamed the SPLM-N for damaging the peace after explaining to the leaders of States of South Kordofan and Blue Nile in Khartoum the reasons why the negotiation at a meeting in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan failed.

“We are sure if leaders of the two states and leaders of Sudan have great determination to stop this war, this war will stop, despite that some take the war as source of income for them. The African Peace and Security Council required us to implement the tripartite agreement to provide humanitarian aid immediately and asked the government and the armed movement to deliver aid to people in need in conflicted areas, then what happened? They rejected it. Since 2012 they have rejected humanitarian aid to the citizens and that is documented by the African Union and the UN Security Council,” he said.

Leaders from the two conflicted areas stated that people in these areas are enduring tough hardship, and the anti-government forces’ behavior has damaged the peace process.

“This breaks up our region and kills our people and deprives them of education and hurts them badly. This is a crime against humanity. This is injustice for the people in the region,” said Khamiss Kago, the secretary general of Fund to Support the Peace in Southern Kordofan.

“Yes to peace, no to war, yes to peace, no to war. I’d say the rebels, rebelled at the wrong time, but now the government of Sudan came and gave us the state and we exercise our rights,” said Ahmed Karmano, member of the National Council in Blue Nile State.