KHARTOUM, Nov 28 (AFP) - Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir on Sunday urged opposition alliance leader Mohamed Osman al-Mirghani to meet him following a peace deal between Khartoum and one opposition faction signed this week.
But a meeting seemed unlikely as Mirghani's National Democratic Alliance (NDA) claimed the declaration of peace principles forged by Beshir and the Umma Party would only serve to escalate the civil war in south Sudan.
Beshir said he was ready to meet Mirghani, chairman of the NDA and leader of the opposition Democratic Unionist Party, anywhere in a bid to end a 16-year civil war, Sudan's SUNA news agency reported.
He also praised Umma Party leader and former prime minister Sadek al-Mahdi as "courageous" for meeting him in Djibouti to forge the deal which was signed there Friday, SUNA said.
But a Cairo-based NDA spokesman denounced the deal Sunday, charging that the umbrella opposition group had not been consulted and that the deal would only serve to exacerbate strife between the sides.
"The Djibouti agreement will not stop the war in south Sudan," said Faruq Abu Issa in a statement carried by Egypt's MENA news agency.
"It will escalate it and expose the nation to the dangers of splintering and partition," said Abu Issa whose group includes the Islamic Umma Party as well as non-Muslim southern separatist rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).
Khartoum's Cabinet meanwhile called on the opposition to "respond favorably" to the agreement with the Umma Party and work to achieve peace and reconciliation in Sudan, SUNA reported.
It said the government's South Sudan Coordination Council (SSCC) also welcomed the agreement as "a great stride in the course of peace."
SSCC Chairman Riek Machar said his group would try to persuade the SPLA rebels to back Friday's agreement. But the SPLA has distanced itself from the accord, saying it violates NDA principles.
A civil war between the Muslim Arab north and the mainly Christian and animist south has ravaged the country since 1983.
