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December 8, 2013 (KHARTOUM) - Peace talks between the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North have been postponed due to the funeral of the former South African president Nelson Mandela.

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki speaks during a meeting between Sudanese Defence Minister Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein and his South Sudan counterpart John Kong Nyuon in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, March 8, 2013. (REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri)

Presidential assistant and top negotiator Ibrahim Gandour told reporters in a press conference held on Sunday that he was preparing to leave the country to Addis Ababa when he was informed about the adjournment by the African Union mediation team.

The mediation had invited the two parties to meet in Addis Ababa on 12 December and proposed three agendas related to the humanitarian situation, a cessation of hostilities, and political negotiations.

The chief mediator and former South African president Thabo Mbeki who was in Johannesburg when Mandela died on Thursday night, cancelled the meeting as he has to participate in the funeral of the late leader scheduled for 15 December.

Government and SPLM-N officials said they were ready for the talks to end the two year conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states. However the Sudanese rebels insist that the process should lead to comprehensive negotiations including other rebel and opposition forces.

The African Union High-level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) also deferred another meeting of the Sudan South Sudan security committee to discuss their difference over the baseline for the demilitarized security zone between the two country, zero line.

The defence ministers of the two countries were supposed to take part in the postponed meeting.

The mediation did not fix a new date for the two meetings. Sources say it may take place on 20 December but others say it would be held next year due to Christmas festivities.
(ST)