CAIRO â A meeting of the heads of Sudanâs three main opposition movements â John Garang, Sadeq Al-Mahdi and Mohammad Othman Al-Mirghani â kicked off in Cairo yesterday. Their talks are to focus on âthe latest results of (peace) negotiations in Machakos,â Kenya, senior Umma Party official Mirghani Hassan told AFP. Garang represents the Sudan Peopleâs Liberation Army, which is holding peace talks in Kenya with the Khartoum government, while Mirghani heads the Democratic Unionist Party, and Mahdi the Umma Party. This is the first meeting between Garang and Mahdi since the Umma Party leader quit the National Democratic Alliance, an umbrella Sudanese opposition group that includes the SPLA and the northern opposition. The NDA is headed by Mirghani, who lives in exile in Cairo. On Wednesday, he said the SPLA-Khartoum peace talks in Kenya could not succeed because they sideline other Sudanese parties. Northern opposition groups are not taking part in the talks, which started in the summer of 2001 and aim to bring a lasting peace to Sudanâs 20-year civil war. Their fifth round ended on Wednesday.
| So I guess Bashir can spitcan that idea... |
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