Khartoum clings to DDPD as basis for Darfur peace process

May 17, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese government sticks to the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) as framework text to end the 11-year conflict in western Sudan, a leading member of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) said on Saturday.

The visiting chair of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) Thabo Mbeki discussed with the presidential aide Ibrahim Ghandour a wide range of issues, including ways to end Darfur conflict and to include Darfur rebels in the national dialogue process.

The former South African president is tasked by the Peace and Security Council of the African Union with the resolution of the armed conflict in the Two Areas and the democratic transformation in Sudan.

Following the meeting NCP political secretary Mustafa Osman Ismail stated that Ghandour briefed Mbeki about the outcome of the eighth meeting of the DDPD Implementation and Follow-up Commission held in Al-Fasher last month.

According to Ismail, Gandour said the international body, which is chaired by the State of Qatar, reaffirmed that the Doha forum is the principal platform to resolve the problem of Darfur, adding that any other initiative should lead to this forum.

“The government is ready, within the framework of the DDPD, to meet the opponents and the armed movements (in Darfur) to reach an agreement with them,” said the NCP political secretary.

Unconfirmed reports say there are a proposal to move the Darfur peace process to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, because the rebels refuse Doha as venue for the talks.

The Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) which includes three non-signatory groups from western Sudan proposed last April a roadmap providing to unify the two tracks for peace Darfur and the South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

The government, on the other side, refuses this idea saying the two problems should be resolved separately.

(ST)