Sudan says keen to have comprehensive peace process for Darfur
July 6, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese government is keen to hold comprehensive talks including all the parties to achieve peace in Darfur region, the head of Sudanese delegation in Doha talks told foreign diplomats in Khartoum on Monday.
Since last February 2009, Sudanese government and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) held two rounds of talks without the participation of the other rebel groups. Five months after and despite the signing of a goodwill agreement the two sides didn’t start talks about peace.
The mediation had been criticized by small rebel groups who rejected the process while JEM considered the separate talks in Doha as political victory and recognition to its claims of representing the whole rebellion in Darfur.
Amin Hassan Omer, who briefed the foreign diplomats accredited in Khartoum, said contacts are engaged with rebel movements to encourage them to join the next round of Doha process. He further said these contacts include the Sudan Liberation Movement of Abdel Wahid Al Nur and Tripoli rebel groups.
He added the aim of these efforts is to have comprehensive peace negotiations.
JEM, the active military rebel group refuses to sign a ceasefire agreement as government and mediators request. It asks Khartoum to improve the humanitarian situation in Darfur and to release its members detained in Khartoum jails, as it had been agreed in February.
The state minister, who headed the government delegation during the next round, said he was optimistic that the next would witness progress and more see rebels and civil society organizations involved in the process.
To explain the position of his government on the deadlock in the talks with JEM, Amin said the Sudan’s delegation went to the second round of talks in order to evolve the goodwill agreement by inking another deal on the ceasefire.
He pointed out that JEM was determined to negotiate only on the timetable for the release of prisoners.
The US envoy told Darfur rebels in Tripoli last week that the next round would be held in August in Doha. The joint mediator had pledged to organize a preliminary meeting with the government delegation.
Dijbril Bassolé and Scott Gration also reaffirmed their determination to involve all the parties and the civil society in the talks.
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Ambago
Sudan says keen to have comprehensive peace process for Darfur
There is this old concept that as long as enemies to a conflict are kept engaged in talks then major negative developments on the ground can be avoided. This seems to be working well in other settings where the culture is to respect the agreements reached between the opposing sides, but not with the Sudanese.
The bitter reality in the Sudan and especially under the Khartoum NIF/NCP of Omer al Bashir, engagement in talks are meant to buy time and only to return to the worse actions afterwards.
It is good that the other Darfuri rebel factions and the civil societies are expected to take part in the next coming talks at least each and every one of them will be exposed to the first hand experience of exactly how cunning the Khartoum based Islamists are.
No wonder that the Khartoum government has suffered a major diplomatic set back since it arrested the democratic transformation process in the Sudan by militarily overturning the democratically elected government on 30th June 1989.
This isolated government has been only talking to the Chinese, the Iranians and the Malaysians, for the most of its twenty years in power and occasionally to the Turks, that is why these days they cannot afford to miss any talks any where of course with the ultimate intension of showing to the world that the Sudanese regime has actually returned to doing business in the foreign platforms and that it has finally suceeded to come out of its long term isolation..
Furthermore Khartoum will never miss talks in places like Doha where nobody puts pressure on them to take the talks seriously and follows up and sees to it that the outcomes are actually implemented. In fact at this juncture, even the presidential advisor to al Bashir, Mini Arkoi Manawi can join again as much as long as he can knowing very well that non of the things agreed on will ever be implemented back in the Sudan and at least not to the letter nor the spirit as is the experience with the North/South CPA.
The JEM being an Islamist insider knows exactly what Khartoum is heading at as they all read from the same ideological note books prepared for them by their joint mentor, the founder of both the Khartoum regime and the JEM rebels of Darfur Sheikh Hassan Abdulla Al Turabi, the current chairman of the Peoples’ Congress Party.
However it is now election time in the Sudan and added to it the current hat- trick scored by al Bashir at the Sirte, where the AU heads of states have agreed to allow him a free movement in the continent without giving any consideration to the ICC arrest warrants, these developments will obviously make the government side in coming Doha negotiations to adopt more stiffer positions or revert to frank arrogance as opposed to any sensible engagement.
And until Obama and his envoy Scot Gration realize that the” keazan” are taking them for a ride, there will be an endless trips to these fruitless talks in Doha.
Dr. Justin Ambago Ramba, United Kingdom.