No more talks with Darfur rebels after Doha – Sudanese President
June 5, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese President warned on Saturday that current Doha peace talks will be the last venue for negotiations with the rebel groups to end the seven-year conflict in Darfur.
JEM, which signed two agreements with Khartoum since last year, accused the Sudanese army of attacking its positions in Darfur breaching a truce included in a framework deal inked on 23 February 2010.
“The current Doha round will be the last for any armed group. There will be no legitimacy through the gun, only through the ballot box,” said President Omer Al-Bashir in a speech delivered during a meeting of his ruling National Congress Party late on Saturday.
Khartoum in the past had made similar statements but under the pressure of the international community resumed talks with the non-signatories rebel movement. The government officials also said they want to conclude Doha process before the southern Sudan referendum.
Besides JEM suspension, another rebel group led by Abdel Wahid Al-Nur, founder of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), refuses to take part in the peace process demanding Khartoum to implement a number of measures to protect civilians before to take part in the talks.
The formation of LJM under the leadership of a former governor is seen as response to Nur refusal to participate in the peace process. El-Tijani El-Sissi belongs to the same ethnic group as Nur, Fur Tribe.
The Joint Chief Mediator Djibril Bassole met with the head of the Sudanese delegation to discuss the preparation of the new round of talks and met with the First Vice President Salva Kiir Mayadrit in Juba on Saturday to brief him about the process.
Kiir pledged to support his effort and to seek to convince the other rebel groups to join the process.
In another development, the political secretary of the Sudan Liberation Movement Juba-Unity rejected today the merger of the group with the LJM announced on April 27 by its leader Ahmed Abdel Shafi.
El-Hadi Idriss Yahya said in a statement to Sudan Tribune they took this decision after extensive consultations within the group. He also called on Abdel Shafi to rejoin the SLM Juba Unity and urged the different factions o f the SLM to reunite.
The delegation o f the Sudanese government postponed its departure to Doha to Sunday due to the bad weather conditions in the capital. The spokesperson of the delegation said the dust delayed the flight.
(ST)