Rebels: Sudan VP's dialogue call misleading

Sudan's vice-president has misled the public by inviting rebels for talks, the insurgents in South Kordofan state said on Thursday, calling for dialogue under a UN Security Council resolution. President Omar al-Bashir's regime had long rejected negotiations with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), who have been fighting for almost two years in the South Kordofan and Blue Nile regions. But on Tuesday the regime's most powerful vice president, Ali Osman Taha, said the insurgents and opposition parties were welcome to join talks on a new constitution for the country. SPLM-N chairman Malik Agar told AFP that Taha's appeal was "for internal consumption and misleading to the Sudanese, and to an extent, the international community". In a written message, Agar said the rebels were, "on the basis of 2046, ready to start negotiations" with Khartoum. He was referring to UN Security Council Resolution 2046 passed in May last year. It called for an end to fighting between Sudan and South Sudan along their disputed frontier and demanded talks to settle outstanding issues including the war between Khartoum and the SPLM-N.