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Delegations representing the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) began direct talks on Wednesday to discuss the agenda of peace negotiations due to kick off later today in the Ethiopian capital.
Four-member teams from each side engaged in the preparatory meeting, according to an Anadolu Agency reporter.
The meeting comes one day after chief negotiators from both sides held one-on-one discussions – their first meeting without a third party in attendance.
At the Tuesday meeting, Ibrahim Ghandour, external relations secretary for Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP), and SPLM-N Secretary-General Yasser Arman agreed to first discuss the situation in Sudan's Blue Nile and South Kordofan states and to deal with outstanding issues later, a source close to the talks told Anadolu Agency.
According to the AA reporter, the two sides on Wednesday agreed to include a host of political, security and humanitarian issues on the agenda of the upcoming talks, which will be held later Wednesday.
Earlier, the government had said that it wanted talks to include discussions about the situation in Blue Nile and South Kordofan – both epicenters of the SPLM-N's ongoing insurgency – but the rebel group had demanded that talks focus on other issues, including peace and democracy in all of Sudan.
The African Union has warned both sides that it would refer the issue to the UN Security Council in the event that they failed to reach agreement before April 30.
Since 2011, the SPLM-N has waged an active insurgency against Khartoum in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.
Outlawed by the central government, the movement consists mainly of fighters who sided with South Sudan during the civil war, which ended with a 2005 peace treaty that ultimately led to the secession of South Sudan six years later.
By Ahmed Abdullah
englishnews@aa.com.tr - Addis Ababa
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