Doha venue remains open to Darfur rebels, say peace mediators

June 6, 23010 (KHARTOUM) — Darfur peace talks will resume on Monday after the arrival of government and rebel delegations announced the joint mediation today; stressing that the Doha venue remains open to other groups to join the negotiations.

The mediation extended since more than a week an invitation to the rebel groups and the Government of Sudan to resume talks in Doha, the official venue of the peace process on June 6. However the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) refused to send a delegation asking to ensure the return of its leader to Darfur from his forced exile in Libya.

The Qatari state minister for foreign affairs, Ahmed bin Abdullah Al-Mahmoud, and the Joint Chief Mediator, Djibril Bassole, held Sunday consultative meetings with the Sudanese stakeholders — the government and rebel Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) — on the resumption of the peace negotiations on Monday.

In a statement put out following the meetings the mediation said it discussed with the parties on a draft paper dealing with the organizational form of the talks. It also confirmed JEM refusal to join the negotiating table.

However, the mediation emphasized that the peace talks remain open to all the parties interested “in achieving a peaceful settlement to the Darfur crisis in order to put an end to the suffering of the population affected by the long years of fighting”.

The negotiations will include the files of power and wealth sharing, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees, security arrangements, land ownership (Hawakeer) and compensation, the government and the LJM confirmed today.

The spokesperson of the government delegation, Omer Adam Rahma, showed the readiness of his government to settle the seven year conflict in Darfur saying ” It is time to put an end to Darfur crisis especially as the visions have been developed on the topic of negotiations” by the stakeholders.

Tadjadine Beshir Niam, LJM secretary for peace negotiations reiterated to Sudan Tribune the readiness of his movement to start serious discussions aiming to reach a peace agreement if the government shares their concerns and shows the same seriousness.

He also said they seek to involve the IDPs and refugees in the peace talks as observers, as provided in the framework agreement they signed with the government.

JEM CONDITIONS

JEM suspended on May 2 its participation in the Doha process accusing the army of violating a cessation of hostilities agreement signed with the government last February. However, angered by the move, the Chadian President Idriss Deby banned on May 19 the entry of JEM leader to Ndjamena preventing him from crossing to Darfur where his group fights on daily basis against the Sudanese troops.

The rebel top negotiator Ahmed Tugud in a statement released today asked to ensure the return of Khalil Ibrahim to Darfur as sine qua non condition for the resumption of the peace talks with the government.

He further urged to have “a single track of negotiations and avoidance of parallel talks that lead to multiple agreements and signatures.”

As JEM blamed the Qatari government of favoring Khartoum, Tugud demanded further guarantees of the neutrality of the host country, “and commitment to clear separation of the roles of the Mediator and the host country”.

He also spoke about the need to “widening the mandate of the International Joint Mediator to enable him to pursue a comprehensive approach to the resolution of the conflict”.

The Sudanese government had been angered by a meeting held last week between Bassole and Khalil Ibrahim saying the joint mediator should not seek to return the rebel leader to Darfur. The mediation had stated its readiness to transport JEM chairman to Doha.

Also the President Omer Al-Bashir reaffirmed on Saturday his support to the Qatari role in the peace process brushing aside attempts to contest Doha as the official venue for the peace process.

(ST)