Bashir bows to Atwoli appeal on S Sudan talks

By NGARI GICHUKI

NAIROBI, KENYA: Sudan President Omar Bashir has offered to take part in the ongoing South Sudan peace talks.

Speaking from Sudan’s State House, Bashir said that having been the overall President of united Sudan for more than 20 years, he understood the current situation in the Southern Sudan well.

He called on all those involved in South Sudan’s peace negotiations to involve his government as he still considers both the southern and the rest of the Sudan as two governments for the same people.

This comes after the Secretary General of the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) Francis Atwoli appealed to Bashir to use his long experience in the Sudanese political leadership and join the Inter-Governmental Authority and Development and other leaders in the region to end the conflict.

Atwoli noted that the suffering the people of Southern Sudan were going through was totally unacceptable and regrettable, hence the need for an effective intervention.

GAIN RESPECT

He is currently chairing the meeting of the Trade Union Federation of Eastern Africa in Khartoum that started on Monday.

The Cotu leader was accompanied by his deputy secretary general and MP for Kabete Constituency George Muchai and other Cotu top officials.

Bashir reiterated his earlier call that Africans must remain in control of their minerals as well as natural resources if they are to be respected.

He added that they must dictate terms of their produce and exports and promote inter-Africa trade, open up our boundaries on the continent and minimise internal conflicts if prosperity was to be realised.