Sudanese presidency rejects merger of Doha and African forums
May 17, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese Presidency of the Republic has rejected the armed movements call for amalgamation the Qatari and African imitative on Darfur peace process as an attempt to find a way around an AU- sponsored roadmap.
Chairman of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Gibril Ibrahim told Sudan Tribune last Saturday that they intend to ask Qatar for joining the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) led by Thabo Mbeki in order to have a united framework for negotiating a number of issues on Darfur and the comprehensive peace in Sudan.
In response, the Minister of Information and spokesman of the government, Ahmed Bilal Osman, welcomed the joint call of JEM and Sudan Liberation Movement-Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM) to unify the peace process through the merger of Qatari and African Initiatives.
However, Amin Hassan Omer, who is in charge of Darfur Peace Follow-up Office at the Sudanese presidency, has rejected the proposal, describing the call as “an attempt to circumvent the (AUHIP-proposed) roadmap which was not signed by the two armed movements”.
In a statement on Tuesday, Omer considered the proposal as an attempt to have a new mandate outside that of the AU-UN and Qatari mediations, which are based on completion the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD).
“This matter is not acceptable in principle,” he stressed.
The Sudanese official who is also the government chief negotiator on Darfur crisis further said the statement of the government spokesperson was just welcoming any effort to coordinate between the Doha and the AUHIP forums, as stated in the Roadmap Agreement signed by the government.
During the African Union-sponsored talks of Addis Ababa, Khartoum government has refused JEM and SLM-MM endeavours to renegotiate on a number of issues already discussed in the Doha framework document.
last March, following a series of meetings with the AUHIP in Addis Ababa, JEM, SLM-MM, SPLM-N and the National Umma Party have rejected to sign the African Roadmap.
The leaders of the two armed groups are expected to meet with the Qatari Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed bin Abdullah Al -Mahmoud in Doha at the end of this month of May.
(ST)