Sudan’s Bashir suspends peace talks with rebels

By Mohammed Amin

KHARTOUM

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Sunday announced an indefinite halt to peace talks with rebels groups.

“There will not be any talks with the rebels inside or outside the country,” Bashir said during a meeting with senior army officers at the Defense Ministry headquarters in Khartoum.

“We will never talk to them and we will not allow them to be integrated within the national army under any kind of agreements,” he stressed.

Last month, the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-N), which fights the government in South Kordofan and Blue Nile regions, suspended peace talks with Khartoum after rights group Amnesty International accused the Sudanese government of using chemical weapons against civilians in war-torn Darfur province.

The London-based group claims that up to 250 people had been killed in the chemical attack, an allegation denied by the government.

Bashir also warned neighboring South Sudan against providing support for rebel groups in his country.

“Our message to our brothers in South Sudan is that if they want peace we are ready; otherwise we are also ready,” he said.

“We say again SPLA rebels, who fight us in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, are still part of the South Sudan army, so we will not have any talks with them,” he said.

Sudan and South Sudan have traded accusations of rebel support since the latter split from the north in 2011.