The Abudu Royal Family of Dagbon has announced it will return to mediation talks conducted by a Committee of Eminent Chiefs chaired by the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II. The family said it was encouraged by the decision of President J.E.A. Mills to actively promote the resumption of the peace talks between them and the Andanis. The Abudus at a crunch meeting Thursday, April 14, 2011 rescinded their decision to boycott the process. Last year the Abudus withdrew from the peace talks saying the family had lost confidence in Otumfuo and his committee as impartial peace brokers, arguing that while the road-map to peace had stipulated that they (Abudus) be allowed to use the Gbewa Palace for the performance of the funeral rites of the late Ya-Na, Mahamadu Abdulai - an Abudu overload - who died in the 1989, the family had been denied access to the palace for this purpose. The Spokesperson for the Abudus, Mr Ziblim Iddi, said “Now what we are simply saying is that at least for once, the committee should…impress on the Andanis to see the need why the Abudus should perform the funeral in the Gbewa palace…” They family complained the Andanis had violated the road-map to peace and that Otumfuo and the CEC had failed to enforce the provisions of the road-map, vowing to be out of the talks until they were allowed to perform Na Mahamadu’s funeral in the Gbewaa Palace. Following an Accra Fast Track High Court ruling which freed 15 Abudus charged with the murder of the Ya-Na Tuesday, March 29, 2011, - evoking angry protests from the Andanis who accused the government and the judiciary of giving them a raw deal by denying them justice - President Mills said he was frustrated by the judgement but sought to activate the mediation process in order to bring lasting peace to Dagbon. Vice-President John Dramani Mahama, on the instructions of the president, last weekend appealed to the Asantehene, to revive the mediation talks between the Abudu and Andani factions. The Andanis welcomed the decision accusing the Abudus of stalling the talks by pulling out. The Abudus insisted they needed to meet before declaring their position on the matter – a meeting they held Thursday and resolved to return to the negotiation table. Story by Malik Abass Daabu/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana