Sudan urges all Darfur rebel groups to join peace talks
November 3, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — The chief negotiator of Sudanese government Saturday urged all the rebel groups in the conflict- torn western region of Darfur to take part in peace talks.
Nafi Ali Nafi, the Sudanese presidential assistant and head of the government negotiation delegation, made the remarks at a press conference held in the Khartoum International Airport upon the return of main members of the delegation from Libya.
He said that during the first stage of the negotiations in the past week in Libya’s coastal city of Sirte, an agreement had been reached to give the rebel groups three to four weeks to conduct consultations among them in order to work out a united negotiation platform.
The first stage of the negotiations, which started on Oct. 27, was attended by the government delegation and only seven minor rebel movements with the absence of all the major rebel groups, including the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by Abdelwahid Mohamed al-Nur.
Nafi denied that the negotiations had been suspended or adjourned because successive departures of various delegations from Sirte, noting that the delegations had left some negotiators to stay there in order to continue indirect consultations on the technical problems.
He hoped that all the Darfur rebel groups could come to the negotiation table when the next stage of direct negotiations is held in December, adding that contacts would be carried out by United Nations and African Union mediators with the parties concerned for this purpose.
(Xinhua)