The Sudanese government has announced that an Afro-Arab summit on peace in Sudan is scheduled to be convened in mid-August in Tripoli, while a national dialogue forum will start in early September.
The presidential political adviser, Qutbi Al Mahdi, told the official Sudanese news agency, SUNA, that the summit would draw Egypt, Libya and Nigeria, and some other African neighbors.
Press reports said Kenya, South Africa and possibly Uganda would be taking part in the mini-summit.
AFP quoted Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman as saying the summit would look at ways to implement a joint Egyptian-Libyan peace initiative aimed at bringing the Khartoum government together with opposition factions to discuss ways of ending the war and forming a transitional government.
"The government is committed to adopting the Egyptian-Libyan plan," he said.
The peace plan, which has also been accepted by the opposition, includes calls for a pluralist democracy and a national conference for revision of the Constitution of 1998.
However, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), an umbrella movement for southern and northern rebel and opposition groups, has demanded that any peace process should also focus on the principle of self-determination for the south and the separation of religion and government, according to the agency.
Sudanese rebels in the mainly animist and Christian south have been fighting against successive Arab and Muslim northern governments since 1983.
On the preparatory dialogue forum, Mahdi said the government had named its delegates and was ready to negotiate. Speaking to journalists at the headquarters of the ruling National Congress, Mahdi said the government was attempting to engage all the political forces in the negotiations.
Egypt and Libya have sent official invitations to the Khartoum government, the NDA and the Ummah Party to attend the preparatory forum - Albawaba.com
