- Title: SUDAN: Country reaches agreement with rebels on aid
- Date: 5th August 2012
- Summary: KHARTOUM, SUDAN (AUGUST 5, 2012) (REUTERS) SUDAN'S CHIEF NEGOTIATOR KAMAL OBEID ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE CAMERAMEN OBEID AND HIS OFFICIALS AT PRESS CONFERENCE VARIOUS OF JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SUDAN'S CHIEF NEGOTIATOR, KAMAL OBEID, SAYING: "If we don't reach an agreement to diffuse the tension, guarantee security and assure there is no return to war inside Sudan, or between Sudan and South Sudan, then no deal will be finally signed. This fact should be clear to all. I can't provide for the treasury of a state to build up its forces and buy weapons to attack us, as was going on before the shut down over oil." VARIOUS OF MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SUDAN'S CHIEF NEGOTIATOR, KAMAL OBEID, SAYING: "The agreement over the other items, on top of which is security issues, is subject discussion with the groups existing inside Sudan." JOURNALISTS AT THE NEWS CONFERENCE MEMBERS OF THE NEGOTIATING TEAM TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SUDAN'S CHIEF NEGOTIATOR, KAMAL OBEID, SAYING: "It is obvious that the SPLM is not committed to anything and it kept alleging in the media that it is oppressed and attacked. We affirm that this is not the reality but on the contrary. The SPLM is oppressing others and banning them from achieving what they want." OBEID LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 20th August 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Sudan
- Country: Sudan
- Topics: Economic News,People
- Reuters ID: LVA21C1RHHASE057ZBKDUDCRTMO7
- Story Text: Sudan confirmed on Sunday (August 5) it had reached an agreement to allow aid into territories held by rebels in two war-torn Southern border states, but it expressed "great doubts" about whether rebels would honour the agreement, a senior official said The move comes a day after Sudan reached a deal with South Sudan over oil export fees from the South. It was the first step to end hostilities between the rivals which came close to war in April.
Head of the Sudanese delegation, Kamal Obeid, said his country will sign a deal calling for a limited ceasefire as a first step to allow aid, adding that more non-direct talks with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-North) would follow after the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan But Obeid reiterated Sudan will implement the oil deal allowing crude exports from landlocked South Sudan only after all border security issues had been solved.
"If we don't reach an agreement to diffuse the tension, guarantee security and assure there is no return to war inside Sudan, or between Sudan and South Sudan, then no deal will be finally signed. This fact should be clear to all. I can't provide for the treasury of a state to build up its forces and buy weapons to attack us, as was going on before the shut down over oil," said Obeid Obeid was addressing journalists in Khartoum, a day after the Africa Union announced it had brokered a deal between Sudan and rebels of the Sudan's People Liberation Movement-North to allow humanitarian aid into South Kordofan and Blue Nile.
He gave no timeframe, but said any aid would be distributed only under strict Sudanese supervision with security forces having the right to search convoys.
Obeid said Khartoum had doubts the SPLM-North would honour the agreement as it was supported by South Sudan, a claim which some diplomats find credible despite official denials.
"The agreement over the other items, on top of which is security issues, is subject discussion with the groups existing inside Sudan," Obeid said.
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is under pressure from his own National Congress Party not to make too many concessions to South Sudan and especially the SPLM-North, which many hard-liners consider an enemy.
"It is obvious that the SPLM is not committed to anything and it kept alleging in the media that it is oppressed and attacked. We affirm that this is not the reality but on the contrary. The SPLM is oppressing others and banning them from achieving what they want," said Obeid According to the United Nations, almost half a million people have been displaced from fighting in the two states which border both the two Sudans. The United States and aid groups have warned of impending famine. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
