News Article by AFP posted on September 29, 2000 at 17:39:54: EST (-5 GMT)
Sudan's southern rebels say Sudan election plans a negative sign
CAIRO, Sept 29 (AFP) - The Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA)
said
Friday that the Sudanese government's plan for presidential and
parliamentary
elections is "a negative sign which is likely to widen
the gap" between
Khartoum and the opposition.
The government announced Wednesday that the elections would be
held
simulataneously from December 11 to 20 in the 26 states of the
country.
In a statement received by AFP, the SPLA criticised the fact
that the
government was not keeping away from satisfying the claims
of the opposition,
such as "the abolition of laws restricting public
freedoms," but was still
going ahead with plans to stage
presidential and parliament elections.
That, it said, was a "negative sign," adding that the SPLA
"wanted to see
movement by the regime to create a positive
atmosphere to prepare the way for
direction negotiations."
SPLA spokesman Yasser Erman said "the meeting between the leader
of the
National Democratic Alliance (NDA, which groups the northern
opposition with
the SPLA) Mohamed Osman el-Mirghani and President
Omar el-Beshir shows the
seriousness of the NDA and its willingness
to reach peaceful solutions
through negotiations to establish peace
and real democracy in Sudan,"
according to the statement.
General Beshir met in Asmara Tuesday with the head of the NDA
for the
first time since coming to power in a coup 11 years ago. The
two men decided
to open direct negotiations between the Sudanese
government and the NDA
without actually fixing a date to start these
negotiations.
A civil war has opposed southern rebels and the central
authority in
Khartoum for the past 17 years.