Sudanese Government Suspends Talks with Rebels

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, September 03, 2002

Sudanese Government Suspends Talks with Rebels

The Sudanese government has decided to suspend peace talks with the southern rebel group in Kenya, Sudanese Minister of External Relations Mustafa Ismail said Monday in Cairo.

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The Sudanese government has decided to suspend peace talks with the southern rebel group in Kenya, Sudanese Minister of External Relations Mustafa Ismail said Monday in Cairo.

"The decision came due to the current situation in Sudan resulted from rebel activities of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA)," Ismail told reporters after his meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher.

"Meanwhile, the Sudanese government will redeploy its troops to deter the SPLA's rebellions," said Ismail, who is here for a meeting of Arab foreign ministers to be held on Wednesday.

"The current situation in Sudan will affect security of the Arab world, the African continent and the world at large," he warned.

"The Sudanese government does not intend to engage in any war, but to create a favorable atmosphere for peace talks," he stressed.

"The government wants to ink a final agreement with the southern rebel group. However, the SPLA attempts to gain benefits from occupying territories," he said.

The SPLA captured the key government garrison town of Torit in southern Sudan on Sunday.

Sudan state radio has accused the SPLA of escalating military offensives to expand the area of southern Sudan that would be self-ruled according to the July 20 preliminary agreement.

On July 20, the Sudanese government and the SPLA signed an agreement on the separation of state and religion and the right of self-determination of southern Sudan, two key issues for ending a 19-year-old civil war in Sudan which claimed nearly 2 million lives.

The two sides began a second round of talks in Kenya on Aug. 12 in an effort to reach a final agreement.

Since the outbreak of the civil war in 1983, the SPLA had been fighting for greater autonomy of the mainly Christians and animists living in the south.

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