Dr. Ghazi Salah al-Deen al-Attabani, the former head of the Sudanese ruling party parliamentary caucus, arrived on Saturday morning to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, where he met with negotiating teams of the SPLM-N and Sudanese government.

Ghazi broke away from the ruling National Congress Party last year and is now the head of the Reform Now Party. His visit to Ethiopia comes after a week of negotiations without breakthrough between the rebel group and Sudanese government.

The negotiations aim to end the nearly three-year conflict in the Nuba Mountains and southern Blue Nile, as well as determine whether and how the rebel movement could play a national political role.

Sudanese rebel groups, including SPLM-N and the Darfur factions, have rejected participation in the national political dialogue initiative launched by President Omar al-Bashir earlier this month.

Several opposition parties, however, most notably the Popular Congress Party led by Sheikh Hassan al-Turabi and the Umma Party led by Sadig al-Mahdi, as well as Ghazi’s own Reform Now Party, have accepted to participate in the dialogue and have urged the armed opposition to join.

Speaking after meetings with the delegations, Ghazi stated that they discussed humanitarian issues as well as the ‘Two Areas’ issues and the national dialogue initiative.

He noted that he found both parties willing to make an effort to achieve an agreement, though the distance between their positions is still wide.

Photo: SPLM-N Secretary-General Yasser Arman (left) with Ghazi Salan al-Deen (center left)

Related coverage:

Sudan: Parties disagree on format for ‘Two Areas’ talks (25 Apr.)

NCP’s Ghazi denies being stripped of powers (8 Apr. 2013)           

‘Plot’ in Khartoum: timeline of events (26 Nov. 2012)