Sudan declines Eritrean offer to mediate with Darfur rebels
Aug 5, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The Eritrean authorities proposed their services to mediate with a Darfur holdout rebel group but Khartoum declined the offer, a press report said.
According to Arabic language al-Sudani paper, the Eritrean delegation which visited the Sudanese capital last week proposed to mediate with the rebel National Redemption Front (NRF) to joint the Darfur Peace Agreement but Sudanese officials didn’t seem interested by the offer.
The Darfur rebel NRF is founded on 30 June by a dissident from the Sudan Liberation Movement/ Army (SLM/ A) led by Khamis Abdalla Abakr, Justice Equality Movement of Khalil Ibrahim (JEM); and. Sudan Federal Democratic Alliance (SFDA) of Ahmed Ibrahim Diraig and Sharif Harir.
Chairman of organizational affairs in the ruling People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), Abdallah Jabir told the paper that NRF leadership had left Eritrea.
Sudanese authorities seem not very keen to engage negotiations with the holdout rebels instead they seek to secure Eritrean and Chadian support for the Darfur peace agreement and to obtain their cooperation to isolate Darfur rebel groups.
The African Union and the international community threatened to impose sanctions against the rebel groups which refuse to ink the DPA. This stand comforts Khartoum in its position.
Analysts say Sudanese government is in an ideal situation, because noting is done on the ground to resolve the real causes of the conflict and with the AU brokered DPA, Khartoum the legitimacy to continue its politic on the ground.
After signing the Darfur peace deal with a small group, Khartoum shows that it did what she can to stop war in Darfur, in the same time the SLM-Minawi, is weakened by internal divisions and continual clashes with the other holdout groups in Darfur. So it is expected that Khartoum would not implement all the provisions of the DPA for example the disarmament process could not by applied under the current situation. The armed militias would not be disarmed they carry out currently attacks with the Sudanese army and Minawi partisans. “The DPA provides Khartoum all the necessary conditions to follow up its plans in the region in total impunity”.
(ST)