Sudan opposition leader downplays Arab League initiative on Darfur
September 21, 2008 (WASHINGTON) – A Sudanese opposition leader today downplayed an Arab League initiative aimed at resolving the 5 years conflict in the Darfur region.
The Qatari capital, Doha has been proposed as venue for future peace talks between Khartoum and the rebel groups.
But Mubarak Al-Fadil leader of Umma Reform and Renewal party said that the Arab League is not qualified to play the role of an “honest broker”.
“The Arab League does not recognize that there is a real problem in Darfur nor the fact that massive human rights violations were committed there. How can they be mediators then?” he told Sudan Tribune.
“It will be hard to convince Darfur rebels with that” Al-Fadil said
Al-Fadil stressed however that he has no objections to the venue of the talks and revealed that he proposed to the Qatari envoy in Khartoum a few years ago that they host roundtable conference that includes all Sudanese political forces.
“The root cause of the conflict in the entire Sudan is the insistence of National Congress Party (NCP) to hold on to power and exercise hegemony over the State bodies” he said.
“There will not be peace in Darfur without addressing the core of the problem” the opposition leader emphasized.
Some Darfur rebel groups have questioned the Arab League initiative saying it is an attempt to protect Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir from indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo announced in mid-July that he requested an arrest warrant for Al-Bashir.
Ocampo filed 10 charges: three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder and accused Al-Bashir of masterminding a campaign to get rid of the African tribes in Darfur; Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa.
(ST)