Darfur mediation delays talks between government and rebels
November 18, 2009 (DOHA) – Darfur mediation announced today the postponement of peace talks between the government and the rebel groups pledging its resumption soon after evaluation of the ongoing rebel reunification process.
JEM refuses to resume talks with the government and asks Khartoum to implement a goodwill agreement signed last February. However, it dispatched a delegation to Doha to discuss a strategy for the peace process. The SLM-AW engaged recently consultations with the joint mediator but refuses to join the Doha process posing some conditions related to the security situation of the displaced Darfurians.
The recently formed in Libya from splinter SLM factions, the SLM-RF says ready to engage talks with the government. While the position of Addis Ababa group, sponsored by the US envoy to Sudan, remains unclear. Some of the rebel factions in this group say unification should not be linked to the peace talks while other express readiness to join the process. But all agree on the need to hold their unity conference inside the country.
“Since some of these Movements are now in the process of unifying their negotiating structures and positions, they promised to return to Doha in the few coming days, upon the finalization of the aforesaid process, to engage in negotiations for the final solution,” said the mediation in a statement released on Wednesday in Doha.
The mediation said it took this decision after a series of “intensive contacts” conducted with the different rebel groups.
“The representatives of these Movements reiterated their attachment to Doha as the unified forum for negotiations and undertook to pursue their cooperation and consultations with the Mediation with a view to defining the modality for the commencement of the peace talks in order to achieve a just, comprehensive and final solution to the Darfur crisis.”
The consultative meeting with Darfur civil society groups has been officially inaugurated today with the participation of the Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor Al-Thani, the Chairman of the African Union Commission Jean Ping, Commissioner of the AU Peace and Security Council, Ramtane Lamamra and the acting head of the UNMAID Henry Anyidoho.
The civil society consultations that will continue to Friday November 20, are considered by the mediation as “complementary to and supportive” for the ongoing efforts to end the conflict. Il mediation stressed that these meetings are not a “substitute” for the political process between the governùent and the rebel groups.
The mediation said it would fix the date of the political negotiations soon.
(ST)
Amir Ageeb
Darfur mediation delays talks between government and rebels
Both the Government and the Darfurian rebels are wasting the time and resources of the “Remaining Sudanese Peoples”. The Government is reluctant and wants to impose its conditions according to its view; the rebels are changing their attitudes every now and then!
Can a wise MAN tell how this conflict be resolved while both parties of the conflict are cajoling each other and fooling the Sudanese nation? The victim at the end is the Sudanese people who gain nothing but destruction and devastation.