New Darfur peace mediator to start his duties next week
August 22, 2008 (KHARTOUM) – The new Darfur Joint Chief Mediator will arrive to Sudan next week to begin officially his duties. The full time mediator will be based in North Darfur.
Djibril Bassolé, 50 years old, has been the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Cooperation of Burkina Faso since June 2007. He became the Joint African Union-United Nations Chief Mediator for Darfur in August 2008.
From 1994 to 1995 Bassolé was a member of the Mediation Committee working towards the resolution of the 1990–1995 Tuareg Rebellion in Niger, he also played an important role in facilitating the Ouagadougou Agreement of 2007 signed between President Laurent Gbagbo of Côte d’Ivoire and Forces Nouvelles leader (now Prime Minister) Guillaume Soro.
The Director of the Department of Peace at the Sudanese foreign ministry Al-Tayeb Ali Ahmed, stated that Bassolé will start his mission with meetings with officials at the federal government as well as in the states of Darfur.
“Bassole will conduct negotiations on resumption of talks between the Government and armed movements in Darfur by focusing on the achievement of peace from within,” Ahmed said.
He added that the joint mediator will get acquainted with the Darfur national conference that the government is preparing to hold in Khartoum before the end of the year. All the national political forces, the civil society and different traditional and political forces in Darfur should take part in this conference.
Sudanese president Omer Al-Bashir said also would be invited, the rebel groups opposed to Abuja peace agreement.
Burkina Faso Foreign Minister Djibril Bassole has been chosen as the new mediator to replace the dual negotiating team of AU special envoy for Darfur Salim Ahmed Salim and his counterpart at the UN, Jan Eliasson.
Salim and Eliasson have been criticized for failing to bring the warring parties to the negotiations. They were also blamed for their short visits to Sudan.
(ST)