SPLM delegation briefs Darfur officials on Salva Kiir initiative
May 26, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — During a visit to West Darfur state, a Sudan People’s Liberation Movement delegation met with regional officials and submitted the initiative of First Vice President to facilitate the resolution of Darfur crisis.
The SPLM delegation submitted the initiative of the President of SPLM, Salva Kiir Mayardit, to find a peaceful solution to the Darfur issue.
The First Vice President is expected to visit Darfur next week.
The SPLM delegation included the SPLM finance officer of the northern sector, Al-Hadi Issa, and chairwoman of human rights committee in the National Assembly Marcella Joseph.
During the meeting, Lino affirmed that he had delivered a message from Salva Kiir to discuss the possibility of finding a unified stance. He added that all the armed movements, signatories and non signatories, women, civil servants, parties, elder people of the area and all tribes had been invited for a dialogue in order to reach a common stance that all people in Darfur may share.
Lino stressed that the initiative would not exclude anybody and the SPLM delegation would visit camps of internally displaced persons in the state.
He mentioned that there were similar efforts to meet the armed movements and similar delegations would move to N’djamena and Asmara. He explained that the tour would also include Libya and Egypt in order to create a unified platform for Darfur.
In a statement in Nairobi where he attended COMESA summit last week; First Vice-President of the Republic of Sudan, Salva Kiir, said the Darfur reconciliation meeting is aimed at helping the armed groups that did not sign the Darfur Peace Agreement last year to find common ground.
Kiir said that to ensure the meeting’s success, he has sent envoys to Darfur and Chad. He said the team that went to Darfur will gather views from local traditional leaders, civil society groups, women and youth groups, internally displaced persons, military commanders of the armed groups, and others directly affected by the war in Darfur.
He said the other team will meet Chadian President Idriss Deby to urge him to convince the Darfur armed groups still holding out to come to Juba for the conference.
(ST)