Doha meeting discussed opening of Darfur peace document : Minnawi
June 6, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – Leader of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-MM) Minni Minnawi said they sought to get an answer from the Qatari mediation during recent talks on the possibility of opening the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) for negotiation, pointing the question still awaits an answer.
Following the meeting, al-Mahmoud said they discussed some procedural matters that need to be conveyed to the Sudanese government, pointing the two sides agreed to allow some time to discuss these matters with the Sudanese government in order to achieve the desired result.
The head of the international mechanism for Peace in Darfur added that the joint rebels’ delegation expressed desire to continue the discussions, hoping that all parties take another step forward down this path.
However, Minnawi told Sudan Tribune that since the Paris meeting with al-Mahmoud last January “we pointed out that we only seek to get answers on procedural requirements including whether the DDPD could be re-opened for negotiations or not? And could the Doha forum become a part of the African mediation?”
He added that the participation of the Qatari’s in the peace talks would mean that the DDPD becomes one of the basic documents for the Darfur peace but not the only reference for the process.
“We want to develop a new document [for peace] during our negotiations with the Sudanese government” he said
The Sudanese government had earlier rejected the JEM and SLM-MM proposal to merge the Qatari and African imitative on Darfur peace process and described it as “an attempt to circumvent the (AU-proposed) roadmap which was not signed by the two armed movements”.
Also, during the African Union-sponsored talks of Addis Ababa, Khartoum government refused JEM and SLM-MM endeavours to renegotiate on a number of issues already discussed in the DDPD.
When asked about the resumption of consultations with al-Mahmoud, Minnawi said the, the “ball is now in the court of the Sudanese government and the [Qatari] mediation”, stressing they would neither sign the DDPD nor consider it as a basis for negotiations.
“If they [Sudanese government and Qatari mediation] don’t have a new stance, then there would be no need for the continuation of these consultations,” he said.
Following the Doha meeting, the Joint Chief Mediator Martin Uhomoibhi called on JEM and SLM-MM to sign the Roadmap Agreement brokered by the African mediation and urged them to accept the DDPD as a basis for the Darfur peace.
The Doha brokered the Darfur peace negotiations resulted in the signing of the DDPD by the Sudanese government and the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) in July 2011. JEM which had initiated the process rejected the deal.
The two groups have engaged in peace talks with the government under the auspices of the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP). However, several rounds of talks between the two groups and the government in Addis Ababa have stalled and no progress on the pending issues was made.
JEM and SLM-MM call for opening the DDPD for negotiations, saying some issues were ignored or not fairly treated, but Khartoum rejects such request.
(ST)