Egypt hails Darfur rebels consultations meeting
August 6, 2007 (CAIRO) — Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit on Monday welcomed the outcome of an African Union-United Nations meeting on Sudan’s Darfur concluded earlier in the day in Arusha, Tanzania, during which a consensus was reached on holding final negotiations for Darfur peace.
The participants of the conference were keen on unifying rebel groups stances in a bid to restore peace in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, Abul Gheit said in a statement.
Leaders of the Darfur armed movements presented at the AU-UN meeting reached a consensus to pave way for the final peace negotiations on Darfur on Monday, one day behind scheduled closing of the meeting.
Abul Gheit hoped that the peace talks would start soon with all parties concerned being flexible enough to reach a positive outcome, adding his country is siding with peace efforts exerted by UN special envoy for Darfur Jan Eliasson and AU envoy on Darfur Salim Ahmed Salim.
At the Arusha meeting, the armed movement leaders presented a common platform on power sharing, wealth sharing, security arrangements, land and humanitarian issues for the final negotiations.
They expressed their commitment and readiness to fully participate in the forthcoming negotiations under the leadership of the AU-UN with regional actors, reaffirming their commitment to the road-map of the special envoys.
Like the Sudanese government, the armed movement leaders also welcomed during the Arusha consultations the adoption of the UN Security Council Resolution 1769 which authorized the deployment of a hybrid UN-AU troops in Darfur.
(Xinhua)