Sudan’s ruling party denounces mediation for army captives

The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) has expressed its disapproval of the mediation concerning the release of 20 government troops captured by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North SPLM-N) in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

Mubarak Ardol, spokesman for the SPLM-N, told Radio Dabanga on Friday that the rebel movement had decided to release 20 army and militia troops, captured in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan this year. The release was brokered by the National Sa’ihoun Initiative (NSI), a group of Sudanese Islamists.

The spokesman explained that the “decision to release the government forces affirms the good intentions of the SPLM-N, in recognition of the humanitarian situation of the captives and their relatives”. He called on the International Red Cross to transfer the 20 captives to Khartoum, “before the start of the next round of peace talks”.

The political secretary of the NCP, Hamed Mumtaz, however, told reporters in Khartoum on Tuesday that the NSI is not the appropriate party to broker the release of the captives. “Such a move is supposed to be based on direct political arrangements between the Sudanese government and the SPLM-N.”

Observers interpreted his statements as “an abortion of the initiative to release 20 of the captured government troops”.