Date: Fri Dec 5 17:10:25 2014
Sudan accuses 'foreign parties' of fuelling crisis in Libya
Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Niger and Tunisia attend meeting of neighbouring
countries, as well as Arab League chief and African Union envoy.
5.12.2014
KHARTOUM - Sudan's foreign minister accused "foreign parties" of fuelling
fighting in Libya as he opened a meeting of neighbouring countries Thursday
aimed at ending more than three years of violence.
Libya has been gripped by lawlessness ever since the 2011 overthrow of
Moamer Gathafi and is awash with weapons left over from the NATO-backed
uprising against his dictatorship. Rival governments and parliaments dispute
power, with swathes of territory in the hands of powerful militia.
"Foreign parties have fuelled the Libyan crisis with more fighting and
destruction," Foreign Minister Ali Karti said in a statement as the talks
opened.
Counterparts from Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Niger and Tunisia attended the
meeting, as well as Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi and an African Union
envoy.
Libya was represented by the foreign minister of its internationally
recognised government, which has been confined to the remote eastern towns
of Shahat and Tobruk since Islamist-backed militia overran Tripoli in
August.
No members of the rival administration based in the capital took part in the
talks.
Karti said he hoped the Khartoum meeting could be coordinated with other
initiatives to end the conflict.
On Wednesday, the United Nations announced that Special Representative
Bernardino Leon will lead a new round of negotiations between the warring
parties on December 9 at a venue that has yet to be decided.
The Pentagon has said that the United Arab Emirates carried out air strikes
from Egypt in August in an unsuccessful bid to prevent the militia takeover
of Tripoli.
In September, internationally recognised Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani
accused Sudan of backing his militia opponents after a plane packed with
weapons landed in the southern oasis town of Kufra.
Sudan denied the accusations and in October, Thani appeared to smooth over
the spat on a visit to Khartoum, when he said the dispute was like a
"passing summer cloud".
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New Sudan opposition alliance shatters hopes of Bashir
Opposition parties and rebels meeting in Addis Ababa agree to form new
alliance, urging creation of transitional government in Khartoum.
5.12.2014
KHARTOUM - Sudanese opposition parties and rebels meeting in Addis Ababa
agreed to form a new alliance Wednesday, one of the groups said, urging the
creation of a transitional government in Khartoum.
The agreement is the first to include as wide a range of political parties
and armed groups as it does, working together against the 25-year rule of
President Omar al-Bashir.
An alliance of insurgents from the war-torn Blue Nile, South Kordofan and
Darfur regions known as the Sudan Revolutionary Front signed the agreement
with the opposition Umma Party, a grouping of smaller parties and civil
society groups, the SRF said.
"The SRF, Sudanese political forces and civil society organisations signed
the Sudan's Call today in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa," said Nur
al-Daim Mohamed, a spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Army-Minnawi.
The document said the groups wanted a "transitional government to manage the
interim term" before a new government could be elected.
Unlike previous agreements, it did not call for the overthrow of Bashir.
The document was signed by Umma Party head Sadiq al-Mahdi, Darfur rebel
commander Minni Arku Minnawi, and Farouk Abu Issa, head of the opposition
grouping.
Bashir seized power in a 1989 coup and won a 2010 election largely boycotted
by the opposition. He said last month he would stand for reelection for his
National Congress Party in April.
Wednesday's agreement said the election was a "falsification."
In January, Bashir announced a national dialogue aimed at ending the
conflicts wracking South Kordofan and Blue Nile in southern Sudan and Darfur
in the west, as well as tackling the troubled economy.
In 2003 ethnic insurgents in Darfur rebelled against Khartoum's
Arab-dominated government, a conflict that has killed 300,000 and displaced
two million, the UN says. The government put the casualty figure at 10,000.
Former rebels from the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army-North in Blue Nile an
South Kordofan also took up arms against the government in 2011, complaining
of their regions' neglect.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/meopictures/big/_69191_A2.jpg
Bashir faces political parties and weapons
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