Sudan's parliament rejected on Monday a United Nations call for talks with rebels who have been fighting government troops for almost a year. It also said it would not allow foreign aid agencies into rebel-held areas of South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, as proposed jointly by the United Nations, African Union and Arab League.
Rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) have been fighting in South Kordofan since last June, and in Blue Nile since September. They were allies of southern rebels who now rule in South Sudan, which became independent last July under a peace deal which ended Sudan's 1983-2005 civil war. "We reject negotiations with SPLM-North," Mohammed Al-Hassan Al-Amin, head of parliament's foreign affairs committee, told the chamber.
In a UN Security Council resolution passed on May 2, the United Nations said the Khartoum government and SPLM-N "shall extend full co-operation" to the African Union and the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), East Africa's main diplomatic body, to reach a negotiated settlement.
Comments
Comments are closed.