JEM & SLM-MM to present joint paper for peace in Darfur

January12, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Sudan Liberation Movement- Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM) will present a joint position paper to the Qatari mediator on way to achieve peace in Darfur.

The announcement was made on Tuesday following a meeting held in the French capital Paris between the Qatari Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed bin Abdallah al-Mahmoud, JEM leader Gibril Ibrahim and SLM-MM chairman Minni Minnawi on Monday.

Earlier last week, the two rebel leaders indicated that the meeting was organised on their request to discuss with the Qatari official who co-brokered the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) their demand to open the framework text for negotiations.

“The two sides agreed that the two Movements provide a detailed paper to the Qatari mediation including their vision about the possibility of finding common ground for the peace process in Darfur as soon as possible,” said the short statement.

The statement further underlined that the meeting was constructive. It further said that the meeting centered on the peace process in Darfur and the role of the Qatari mediation to achieve a comprehensive peace in Darfur.

The two groups call to open the DDPD for negotiations saying some issues were ignored or not fairly treated, but Khartoum rejects such request.

The Sudanese government proposes they sign the framework document deal stressing it deals with all their claims. After what, they have to discuss security arrangements agreement and join the national dialogue to discuss any further regional or national demands.

During the two round of talks in Addis Ababa in 2014 and 2015, Darfur holdout rebel groups say they want to renegotiate the compensations of the war affected civilians, their security and protection from the armed militias; land ownership, power and wealth sharing.

One of the participants in the meeting told Sudan Tribune that the Qartari minister said the DDPD “is not a revealed book and they are open to new ideas”.

his “implies that the document failed to achieve its objectives at least they wished,” he further added.

The Paris meeting comes at a time where the African Union’s High Implementation Panel (AUHIP) is preparing to hold an informal meeting between the government and the two rebel groups in Addis Ababa.

The DDPD was signed on 11 July 2011 between the Sudanese government and and the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) of Tijani al-Sissi. A JEM splinter faction led by Bakheit Abdel- Karim Dabajo (JEM-Dabajo) joined the deal in April 2013.

(ST)