Mbeki adjourns talks on Darfur as he flies to Germany

November 29, 2014 (ADDIS ABABA) – The head of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) adjourned the discussions between the government and Darfur rebel groups on a Declaration of Principles leading to a cessation of hostilities in the western Sudan’s region.

Talks in Addis Ababa between the two negotiating delegations are stalled over the rebel demand to include additional issues to the agenda proposed by the mediation. The government these issues are already settled in the Doha framework agreement signed by two rebel groups and supported by the AU and the international community.

On Saturday the AUHIP informed the two delegation of the adjournment, saying that Thabo Mbeki has a three-day visit to Germany for discussions with government officials.

The mediation also told them the parties can remain at the venue of the talks or return to the resumption of talks within four days.

Sudan Tribune has learnt that Mbeki will brief officials at the foreign ministry in Berlin about the course of the discussions between the Sudanese parties on security arrangements, humanitarian aid in order to move them towards an inclusive conference on peace and constitutional process.

Germany is supporting the national dialogue process and intends to facilitate the settlement of conflict in Sudan.

Since September, Mbeki already held several meeting with German delegations in Addis Ababa over the Sudanese process.

Also last October a German institution for mediation, Berghof Foundation, and the Foreign Policy Think Tank of the German Government, Stiftung Wissenschaftund Politik, (SWP) organised a workshop with the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) to discuss the national dialogue and the positions of the rebel groups.

At the end of the two-day meeting in Berlin, the German facilitators agreed with the SRF groups to consult on these ideas with “a variety of Sudanese stakeholders and key international partners, notably the African Union and United Nation”.

Before the SRF workshop, presidential assistant and head of government negotiating team with the SPLM-N, Ibrahim Ghandour was last August in Berlin where he discussed bilateral relations and the peace process.

(ST)