SPLM-N and government officials affirmed that their respective positions have not changed since talks began more than a week ago on allowing aid groups to work behind rebel lines.

A member of the SPLM-N negotiating team in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, Hashim Orta, said that their position in the negotiations on the humanitarian situation in the states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan has not changed place since 23 July.

That is, the rebels have not changed their stance since the ‘humanitarian track’ opened in the talks with Sudan more than a week ago. Negotiations in the Ethiopian capital are held under the auspices of the African Union High Implementation Panel headed by former South African President Thabo Mbeki.

Orta also blamed Sudan for its ‘intransigence’ on its position and conditions for the entry of humanitarian organizations to aid those affected in the two states.

For his part, the spokesman of the Sudanese Foreign Ministry Al Obeid Murawah also said his country’s position has not changed during the negotiations and it will not accept the SPLM-N becoming a political party unless it disengages itself from its military wing, dissociates itself from the main SPLM in Juba and rebuilds itself as an unarmed political party. As reported by Al Ittihad newspaper, Murawah also added that Khartoum had accepted to negotiate with the SPLM-N based on its commitment to the Security Council resolution which called for a solution to the crisis.  

Photo by Radio Tamazuj: A community leader from Blue Nile in Doro Camp, Maban County (late June 2012).

Related content: Blue Nile commander: no aid talks, no political talks with Khartoum (28 July)

Audio clip, below: Listen to part of the interview with Hashim Orta (in Arabic):