{Sudan has been invited by the African Union to rejoin stalled peace talks with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), a Sudanese cabinet minister said Tuesday.}<\/p>\n
“We accepted the invitation and are awaiting a specific date,” State Information Minister Yassir Yusouf told a news conference held on the premises of Anadolu Agency’s Addis Ababa bureau.<\/p>\n
AU chief negotiator Thabo Mbeki recently declared that peace talks between Khartoum and the SPLM-N were taking an indefinite recess.<\/p>\n
According to Yusouf, the Sudanese government has reiterated that the mandate given its negotiating delegation was limited to issues related to Sudan’s flashpoint South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.<\/p>\n
“All other issues should be addressed under the ongoing national dialogue,” said Yusouf, who will be accompanied by a media delegation that includes Sudan Journalists’ Association head Al-Sadiq Rezege; Sudanese Radio and Television Corporation CEO Semeww al-Khalifala; and Sudanese News Agency head Awad Jaden.<\/p>\n
Since 2011, the SPLM-N has waged an active insurgency against the Sudanese government in the southern Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.<\/p>\n
Outlawed by Khartoum, the movement consists mainly of fighters who sided with the south during Sudan’s decades-long civil war. That conflict ended with a 2005 peace treaty that paved the way for South Sudan’s secession from Sudan six years later.<\/p>\n
In recent weeks, the SPLM-N has engaged in Ethiopia-hosted peace talks with the Sudanese government, which have yet to produce any breakthroughs.<\/p>\n
Yusouf said that Sudan’s national dialogue initiative would continue, despite the refusal of certain parties to take part.<\/p>\n
“Without exception, all parties and stakeholders have been invited to take part in the national dialogue,” he asserted. “It [dialogue] will never stop for missing parties.”<\/p>\n
Sudan is slated to hold a general election in February.<\/p>\n
“So far, 13 million of the country’s 23 million eligible voters have registered,” Yusouf said, going on to reiterate the government’s commitment to holding credible elections.<\/p>\n
“Seventeen parties have been confirmed to compete in the polls,” he said.<\/p>\n
-Nile cooperation-<\/p>\n
The Sudanese minister also addressed the sensitive issue of water-sharing between Nile Basin states.<\/p>\n
“[Sudan believes] that no country should be affected by the Nile project,” Yusouf said. “This has been Sudan’s stated position for years.”<\/p>\n
In recent years, tension has marred relations between Ethiopia and Egypt due to a multibillion-dollar hydroelectric dam being built by Addis Ababa on the Nile’s upper reaches.<\/p>\n
Egypt fears the Ethiopian dam could affect its traditional share of Nile water, which has long been determined by a colonial-era water-sharing treaty that Addis Ababa has never recognized.<\/p>\n
Ethiopia, for its part, insists the project won’t affect Egypt’s water supply.<\/p>\n
Relations, however, began to improve between Cairo and Addis Ababa in recent weeks, with the two countries agreeing to resume tripartite talks, along with downstream country Sudan.<\/p>\n
The agreement was struck after Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi met in Equatorial Guinea in June.<\/p>\n
According to Yusouf, the partnership between Sudan and Ethiopia runs deep.<\/p>\n
“Sudan views Ethiopia as a strategic partner,” he said.<\/p>\n
World Bulletin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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