Eritrea says ready for constructive role in Sudan peace process

Monday 3 April 2006 01:30.

April 2, 2006 (ASMARA) — Eritrean ruling party expressed readiness to play a constructive role in the Sudanese peace process, the state run Eritrean News Agency reported.

Abdellah Jabir (ERINA)

Head of Organizational Affairs at the ruling People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) Abdellah Jabir said that Eritrea as a nation that has toiled persistently for the reaching of a comprehensive political solution in the Sudan, it is ready as always to extend its constructive assistance in the slowly progressing Sudanese peace process.

Jabir didn’t specify if his proposal is about eastern Sudan or Darfur region. But it seems the Eritrean offer is related to eastern Sudan peace talks.

In last February the Libyan-sponsored peace talks between Khartoum and eastern Sudan rebels had been delayed after the two sides disagreed over Eritrea’s participation.

"Relations between Khartoum and Asmara have not reached a level (of improvement) at which Eritrea can mediate in Sudanese internal issues," said a spokesman for the ruling National Congress Party, Kamal al-Obeid.

"The government has clearly informed the Libyan mediator that it does not accept any form of Eritrean participation in the negotiations," he said.

Jabir further added that his government wishes to see Sudanese government and opposition “put aside their differences and work together in a spirit of responsibility” ... “for the sake of the Sudanese people realizing that peace is the cornerstone for the existence and development of any nation”.

In October 2005, Eritrea and Sudan announced an end to "more than 10 years of estrangement," and this led to a series of high-level exchanges of visits by senior officials.

Sudanese First Vice-President Salva Kiir Mayardit, visited Eritrea for the second time since his appointment, and held talks with Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki on 23 February.

The entry of former southern Sudanese rebels backed by Asmara, including Kiir, into the Khartoum government following a peace deal in July 2005 eased a decade of difficult relations between Eritrea and Sudan.

But other Sudanese rebel movements operating in the western Darfur region and eastern Sudan have offices in Asmara.

Reacting to the Sudanese refusal of the Eritrean participation in the eastern Sudan peace process, the Eritrean Foreign Ministry on 9 February issued a press release saying “the government of Eritrea did not ask at all to join this meaningless and futile dialogue gimmick; neither will it ask for participation in the future”.

So, this new proposal of “constructive assistance” seems indicating a new attempt from Asmara to convince the reluctant ruling National Congress Party of its good well and seriousness in the normalization of bilateral ties.

Khartoum demands that Asmara stops clearly any type of relations with the eastern rebels and particularly with Darfur rebels.

In this gesture one can also observe the Eritrean aspiration to see Khartoum distancing it self vis-à-vis the Eritrean opposition located in the Sudanese capital and Addis Ababa.

(ST)