Israeli, Splm-N Delegations Meet İn Addis Ababa

A delegation of Israeli aid workers on Wednesday met with members of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) in Addis Ababa.



Discussions between the Israeli delegation, which contained four aid workers active in East Africa, and members of the SPLM-N focused on the latter's need for aid and assistance.



Israeli aid activist Patrick Lahoud and three other activists met the SPLM-N members at a hotel in the Ethiopian capital, an informed source told The Anadolu Agency.



At the meeting, the SPLM-N delegation was led by Yasir Arman, the movement's secretary-general, the source added.



The source said the meeting had lasted for one and a half hours, during which Arman had briefed the Israeli delegation on the progress of recent talks between the SPLM-N and Khartoum.



Arman, the source added, had also briefed his Israeli interlocutors on worsening humanitarian conditions in Sudan's Blue Nile and South Kordofan states against the backdrop of recent government airstrikes.



The Israeli activists, the source said, had also discussed preparations for delivering humanitarian aid – under Israeli sponsorship – to affected populations in the two states, which, he said, had been stricken by "war and famine."



"Lahoud suggested airdropping humanitarian aid," the source said, noting that the Israeli activist had also called for renting planes for the job in coordination with UN agencies.



However, a rebel leader from Blue Nile State who attended the meeting as part of the SPLM-N delegation had challenged the viability of the suggestion, the source said.



He "ed the rebel leader as warning that Khartoum could lay its hands on any aid dropped from the air.



He added that Lahoud had told the SPLM-N delegation that his group had asked Juba to deliver the aid to the two affected states via one of the land crossings linking South Sudan with Sudan.



He went on to "e the Israeli activist as saying that Juba had welcomed the idea, but noted that the border area between the two neighbors was controlled by militias led by South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar.



According to the source, the Blue Nile rebel leader was then asked to confer with Machar's rebels with a view to opening the border to aid deliveries.



The SPLM-N has yet to confirm the source's assertions regarding the reported meeting with the Israeli delegation. Nor has Khartoum or Addis Ababa commented on the report.



Since 2011, the SPLM-N has waged an active insurgency against the Sudanese government in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.



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.



For the last several days, the SPLM-N has engaged in Ethiopia-hosted peace talks with the Sudanese government, which have yet to yield any tangible results.



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